Tile & Stone
The custom porcelain shower a couple has been saving toward since they bought the 1992 split-level. The pinhole leak at the shower-pan-to-wall seam that has been bothering the second-floor ceiling below it for two winters. The kitchen backsplash that was put up over drywall with mastic in 1998 and has been chipping at the corners since the second remodel. The hallway-bathroom floor where the original installer skipped the uncoupling layer and a tile cracks every Pacific Northwest seasonal change. Tile and stone is the trade for everything that gets set in thinset and grouted into place in a residential home — five service families, each with its own scope, price floor, and substrate prep, all of them self-performed by Handis from substrate inspection through final sealer. We install Schluter KERDI, Wedi, and equivalent sheet-membrane waterproofing on every shower and wet-zone install — cement board is not waterproofing and we will not treat it as one. The regulated work that touches a tile project — a new in-wall plumbing valve, a new electrical circuit for a heated mat, the generator on a steam shower — subs to a licensed Washington L&I plumber or electrician with the line item named on every quote. From $350 for a small grout-repair visit to $18,000 for a custom natural-stone walk-in shower with a curbless pan, full Schluter waterproofing, and a frameless glass enclosure.
Services
Tile & Stone Pricing
Final pricing depends on the family selected, the scope size, the tile or stone material, the substrate condition, and whether the project includes a regulated handoff (in-wall plumbing valve, heated-mat circuit, steam-shower generator). Each sub-hub page lists detailed pricing for that family. Licensed-sub fees pass through transparently with the line item named on every quote. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us the room, the scope, and the tile or stone material — we will quote the project with any licensed-sub portion named line by line.
Why Seattle Homeowners Book Handis for Tile & Stone
Most of the failed tile work we are asked to fix started as a single-trade install where the tile setter saw only the surface in front of him — the shower with cement board treated as waterproofing, the kitchen backsplash set in mastic over un-prepped drywall, the bathroom floor that skipped the deflection check on a 14-foot joist span. Tile is the trade where the substrate decides the life of the install and the membrane decides whether the water stays where the tile is. Handis does the substrate work on every project, installs a real sheet membrane (Schluter KERDI, Wedi, or equivalent) on every shower and wet zone, sets the tile with the right thinset for the format, and grouts and seals with material matched to the joint width. The 30-year tile installs in Pacific Northwest homes are not the ones with the best-looking tile — they are the ones that got the substrate and the membrane right on the first install.
Estimate
Tell us the room (custom shower, bathroom floor, kitchen backsplash, fireplace surround, outdoor patio), the rough dimensions, the tile or stone spec if you have one (porcelain, large-format, natural stone, mosaic), the substrate (plywood, slab, cement board over studs), and any known issues (existing leak, cracked tile, soft spot, out-of-flat floor). We send a clear estimate with any licensed-trade portion named line by line.
What Our Customers Say
Recent tile and stone reviews from verified Seattle-area customers.
Custom porcelain walk-in shower in our 1980s rambler. Handis demoed the old fiberglass insert, framed the new opening, set a Schluter KERDI sheet membrane on the floor and the walls (showed us the membrane assembly before they tiled), set 12x24 porcelain on the walls with brushed-nickel niche trim, and put a frameless glass enclosure on the front. Two years later, dead-tight grout, no leaks, looks the same as the day they finished.
Whole-shower regrout on a 1995 install where the corner grout had blown out and three tiles had gone hollow on the back wall. Handis tap-tested the whole wall first, found the hollows, grout-sawed every joint, replaced the three failed tiles with matched stock, regrouted everything in a custom-mixed color match, and sealed. The shower reads like a new install.
Kitchen backsplash in our Bellevue remodel. Subway tile in a stacked pattern, brass schluter edge profile at the open ends, mitered outside corners around the outlets. Handis cut every outlet box opening clean — no chipped edges, no oversized cuts. The pattern lines up across the cooktop wall in a single visual run. Best backsplash install we have ever seen.
Curbless walk-in shower in our master remodel. Curbless mortar pan with a linear drain, full Schluter waterproofing tied into the bathroom floor, large-format porcelain on the walls, frameless glass at the entry. The aging-in-place wheelchair-rollover access we wanted is in there too. Handis sequenced their work around the licensed plumber for the valve change cleanly. The whole project finished on the calendar they gave us.
Outdoor patio in tumbled travertine on our back deck. Freeze-thaw rated stone, polymeric sand in the joints, sealed for the Seattle rainfall. Handis explained on the booking call why the right stone matters for the freeze-thaw cycles here, and they sourced something we would not have found ourselves. Three winters in, no cracking, no joint failures. The patio holds up better than the deck around it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Handis tile and stone work — scope, waterproofing, substrate prep, licensed-trade handoff, scheduling, and pricing.