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Schluter Bathroom Remodeling: The West Palm Beach Owner’s Guide
A full Schluter-system bathroom remodel in West Palm Beach typically runs $9,000 to $28,000 installed, depending on the size of the wet area, the condition of the substrate, and the finish materials you choose. We stock Schluter KERDI and DITRA products on the truck, and we can usually begin a shower or floor tear-out within a week of the estimate, not a month. Most homeowners we hear from in West Palm Beach discover the problem the same way: a loose tile, a mushy spot in the shower pan, or water staining the ceiling below a second-floor bath. By then, the waterproofing layer has already given out, and the fix is rarely a patch job.
We install Schluter systems by the book, and we’ve been doing it in West Palm Beach long enough to know that the coastal humidity and shifting slab conditions here punish shortcuts. This page covers which Schluter models we work with, what failure looks like, what a replacement costs, and whether you should touch it yourself. Written by Curtis Lane, Owner, Bradford Remodeling Co – West Palm Beach.
Which Schluter Models This Applies To
We install and repair the full Schluter line that applies to bathrooms: KERDI waterproofing membrane, KERDI-BOARD building panels, KERDI-SHOWER kits, DITRA uncoupling membrane, DITRA-HEAT electric floor warming, and the KERDI-LINE and KERDI-DRAIN assemblies. The compatibility question that trips up most owners is thickness and series matching. KERDI membrane is 8 mil thick and designed to bond to drywall, cement board, or existing tile with unmodified thinset. KERDI-BOARD comes in 1/2-inch, 3/4-inch, 5/8-inch, and 2-inch panels, and the thickness you need depends on whether you’re overlaying studs or going over an old mud bed. If you grab the wrong panel, the plane of the finished tile changes, and every trim piece stops lining up.
The second gotcha: DITRA vs DITRA-XL. Standard DITRA is 1/8-inch and matches finished floor height to 3/4-inch hardwood. DITRA-XL runs 5/16-inch and was designed for transitions to thicker stone and for leveling minor substrate inconsistencies. In West Palm Beach, where we see a lot of tile laid directly on slab with no movement accommodation, choosing the wrong membrane is the difference between a floor that survives the humidity cycle and one that telegraphs cracks through the grout within two seasons. As for OEM versus aftermarket: Schluter parts like corners, band, and pipe seals are worth buying OEM. The tolerances on the fleece backing and the alkali-resistance of the polyethylene are what make the system waterproof. Generic band from a big-box aisle is not a substitute, and we won’t install it.
Bradford Remodeling Co – West Palm Beach is an independent contractor and not affiliated with Schluter Systems. We’re just a crew that installed enough of it to know where it fails and why.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Schluter Bathroom Remodeling Is Failing
- Grout cracking in a straight line across the floor. This almost always means the substrate moved and the uncoupling layer wasn’t doing its job. On a slab home in West Palm Beach, it’s usually a settling crack or a missing DITRA membrane under tile installed before you owned the place.
- Tile feels springy or hollow when you tap it. Thinset coverage was poor, or the membrane delaminated from the substrate. The tile is not bonded, and the waterproof envelope is already compromised behind it.
- Water stains on the ceiling below a second-floor bath. The shower pan or the corner seams gave out. With KERDI systems in West Palm Beach, we usually find the failure at a seam that was burned too thin with a trowel, or a drain flange that wasn’t set with the right thinset.
- Musty smell in the bath with no visible water. Water is wicking behind the tile and feeding mold in the wall cavity. The bathroom may look fine from the front, but the back side of that KERDI-BOARD is likely holding moisture against the studs.
- Efflorescence or white mineral deposit at the shower floor edge. Water is pooling under the tile and pushing minerals up through the grout. This is a slow leak, and in Florida humidity, it never dries out on its own.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A Schluter bathroom remodel in West Palm Beach runs $9,000 to $28,000 installed. On the low end, you’re looking at a standard 5-foot tub-to-shower conversion with KERDI membrane over drywall, a KERDI-DRAIN, a fiberglass or acrylic pan option, and basic porcelain tile. The upper end covers a full master bath gut: KERDI-BOARD on all wet walls, a KERDI-SHOWER LS linear drain kit in a custom size, DITRA-HEAT under the floor with a programmable thermostat, and full-height tile with Schluter edge profiles.
What moves the number: the square footage of the wet area, whether the floor framing or slab needs leveling or repair before membrane goes down, the linear feet of KERDI-BAND and corner seals, the drain configuration, and your tile selection. A linear drain adds $800 to $1,500 over a center drain because of the extra framing and membrane work. Every quote from us is a written, line-item price before work starts. Not an estimate that becomes a bigger number on install day. The full project carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing: if it fails inside that first year, we come back and correct it at no charge.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check a few things before calling anyone. Tap your tile in the corners with a wood handle. Look for ceiling stains below the bath. Run the shower and watch the drain flange from the room below, if the ceiling is open. That tells you whether you need a pro crew or just a grout touch-up, and it takes five minutes.
What you should not do is pull tile off a shower wall to “find the leak.” Once you break the waterproofing plane, you’ve committed to a full tear-out back to the studs, and if you don’t have the right trowel, the right thinset, and the patience to overlap seams exactly as specified, you’ll build a beautiful shower that leaks in six months. Schluter waterproofing is a system, not a product, and once it’s compromised, the fix is reconstruction, not caulk. If you’re in West Palm Beach and you’ve got a failed bath, call us at (728) 203-9809. We’ll walk the job, give you a straight number, and tell you exactly what needs to come out and why.
FAQs
A properly installed Schluter system should last 20 to 30 years, but the Florida humidity and slab movement in West Palm Beach mean the workmanship matters more than the material. We’ve pulled failing KERDI showers that were only eight years old because the installer skipped the flood test or used modified thinset where Schluter calls for unmodified. Done right, the system outlasts the tile. Call (728) 203-9809 if you want an honest assessment.
Not at the membrane layer. If the leak is at the drain grate or a damaged pipe seal, we can sometimes isolate that repair. But a seam failure behind the tile means the waterproofing envelope is broken, and you cannot patch KERDI membrane from the front without opening the wall. Once we confirm the leak source, we’ll tell you straight whether it’s a repair or a rebuild. Estimates are free.
A standard tub-to-shower or shower replacement runs 5 to 10 working days, including demolition, rough-in inspection, membrane installation, the 24-hour flood test, tile, and grout. A full master bath with DITRA-HEAT and custom linear drain may run 3 to 4 weeks. We schedule all West Palm Beach inspections ourselves and coordinate directly with the local building department.
We stock the common consumables: KERDI membrane, KERDI-BAND, inside and outside corners, pipe seals, mixing valves seals, and KERDI-DRAIN grates in square and tile-ready. Uncommon items like a KERDI-LINE channel body in a custom length or a specific KERDI-BOARD thickness may require a supply-house run, which we factor into the timeline before work starts. We also handle KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone for the finish side if you’re doing more than tile.
Straight number, full scope, no surprises after the invoice.
Written by Curtis Lane, Owner, Bradford Remodeling Co – West Palm Beach at Bradford Remodeling Co West Palm Beach, serving West Palm Beach and nearby areas.
