Custom tile showers
Six packaged wall systems cover most of what we build, and they are on this site everywhere. Above them is the one that fits a room no kit will: a hand-built tile shower, waterproofed from the substrate up, in whatever size and shape the bathroom actually is. This page is about that tier, because until now the site only mentioned it in passing.
Last updated August 2026 · No prices on this page; the Estimate Builder carries those · Part of the knowledge base
What you can actually choose
Tile is not a single option here. These are selectable in the Estimate Builder alongside everything else, so you can price a tiled shower the same way you would price a packaged one.
| Option | What it is |
|---|---|
| Custom tile pan | A hand-built sloped pan, fully waterproofed, in any size or shape. This is what makes a tile shower fit a room a molded pan cannot. |
| Tile shower floor, no step | The same hand-built floor, laid level with your bathroom floor so there is nothing at all to climb over. Walk or roll straight in. |
| Custom tile shower walls | Classic subway or large-format tile, fully waterproofed behind. |
| Designer tile walls with accent | Custom tile with a decorative accent band and clean metal edging at the exposed edges. |
| Tiled shampoo niche | A shelf recessed into the wall framing, tiled to match, instead of a corner caddy. |
| Ceramic tile flooring | For the bathroom floor rather than the shower: classic 12 by 24 or plank tile. |
| Designer hex or pattern flooring | Daltile charcoal hex or octagon-dot porcelain, for a floor that is the feature of the room. |
| Heated floor | Electric radiant matting under the tile. It answers the one real complaint about a tile floor, and it has to be decided before the floor goes down. |
So tile is priced, not just quoted. Several pages on this site say custom tile is quoted per project, and for a full wet room that is exactly right. But the tile pan, the tile walls, the no-step tile floor, the niche and the flooring are all options with prices in the Estimate Builder. You do not need a consultation to find out roughly what a tiled shower comes to.
Why anyone chooses tile over a panel system
Three reasons, and only one of them is about looks.
- The room is an unusual shape. Packaged systems come in sizes. A hand-built pan is made to the room, which is the whole answer for an odd alcove, a sloped ceiling, a corner that is not square, or a shower that has to work around a window.
- You want no step at all, in tile. A tiled floor laid level with the bathroom floor is the flattest entry there is, and it is what a wet room is built on.
- You want the look, and you want it specific. Subway, large-format, an accent band, a particular hex on the floor. That is a legitimate reason on its own and we would rather you had it than talked you into a panel you settle for.
What is behind the tile, which is the part that decides whether it lasts
Neither tile nor grout is waterproof. Both let water through, and what stops it reaching the framing is a continuous waterproofing membrane behind them. That membrane is the shower. The tile is what you look at. What stood behind bathroom tile in earlier eras, and what the Residential Code of Ohio permits behind it now, is on the building page.
It is also the half that is covered up on the second day and never seen again, which is why so much of the difference between a tile shower that lasts thirty years and one that fails in eight is invisible at handover. The failures are always in the same places: corners, seams, and anywhere something penetrates the membrane.
The pan is built with the fall in the substrate beneath the waterproofing rather than only in the tile above it, so any water that reaches the membrane runs to the drain instead of standing on it. A pan built without that pre-slope holds water against the membrane for ever, and it is the most common defect found in a failed shower.
What tile asks of you that a panel system does not
- Time. Waterproofing cures, the setting bed cures, grout cures. It is a sequence with waiting built into it and it cannot be compressed without being made worse.
- Decisions. Tile, layout, grout color, where an accent band sits, how edges are finished. A packaged system makes most of those for you; tile hands them back.
- Maintenance. Grout is porous. It wants sealing, and it will want re-sealing. If the reason you are remodeling is that you are tired of scrubbing grout, read panels against tile before you choose tile again.
Heat under the floor, which is the one thing tile is worse at
Tile is cold underfoot. That is its only genuine comfort disadvantage against every other floor, and it is the thing people mention after the first winter rather than at the showroom.
Electric radiant matting under the tile fixes it, and it is a priced option in the Estimate Builder like the rest. The important part is when the decision happens: the matting goes UNDER the tile, so it has to be chosen before the floor is laid. Adding it afterward means taking the floor up again, which is why it is worth deciding now even if the answer is no. The code side of a heated floor, the ground-fault protection and the inspection before the thin-set goes down, is on the bathroom electrical page, and what the floor under it has to be is on the floors and subfloors page.
Mixing the two is normal
A great many of the bathrooms we build are not one or the other. A panel system on the shower walls with a tiled bathroom floor is the most common combination we do: you get the floor you wanted and a shower with almost no grout to keep. A tiled niche in a panel shower is another. Nothing about choosing a packaged wall system rules tile out of the room.
Common questions
Can I have a fully tiled shower instead of one of the packaged systems?
Yes, and it is the tier above all six of them. A hand-built, fully waterproofed tile pan and tile walls, made to the room rather than to a catalog size. It is the answer when the bathroom is an unusual shape, when you want a floor with no step at all in tile, or simply when the look is the point and you want it specific.
What tile options can I actually choose?
More than most people expect, and they are priced rather than hidden behind a consultation. A hand-built sloped pan in any size or shape, or the same floor laid level with the bathroom floor so there is nothing to climb over. Walls in classic subway or large-format tile, or a designer arrangement with a decorative accent band and metal edging. A tiled shampoo niche instead of a corner caddy. And for the bathroom floor, classic 12 by 24 or plank tile, or a Daltile charcoal hex or octagon-dot porcelain.
Is a custom tile shower priced, or does it need a consultation first?
It is priced. The tile pan, the tile walls, the no-step tile floor, the niche and the tile flooring are all options in the Estimate Builder, so you can build a tiled shower and see a number the same way you would with a packaged system. A full wet room, where the entire bathroom is waterproofed, is the thing genuinely quoted per project, because no two of them are the same job.
What is behind the tile in a shower you build?
A continuous waterproofing membrane, which is the part that actually stops water reaching the framing. Neither tile nor grout is waterproof and neither is expected to be. The pan is built with its fall in the substrate beneath the membrane rather than only in the tile above it, so water that reaches the membrane runs to the drain instead of standing on it. A pan built without that pre-slope holds water against the membrane permanently and is the most common defect in a failed shower.
Can you build a tile shower floor with no step at all?
Yes, and it is one of the selectable options rather than a special request. The tile floor is laid level with your bathroom floor so there is nothing to cross, which is the flattest entry there is and is what a wet room is built on. Whether it is straightforward depends on the floor structure: it is far easier over a basement slab than over the wood joists of an upper floor, because the fall and the drain have to be built into the structure rather than sat on top of it.
Can you put heating under a tile floor?
Yes, electric radiant matting under the tile, and it is a priced option rather than a special request. It is worth taking seriously because being cold underfoot is the one real disadvantage tile has against every other floor, and it is what people mention after the first winter. The timing is the part to note: the matting goes under the tile, so it has to be decided before the floor is laid. Adding it later means lifting the floor again.
Can I mix tile with a packaged wall system?
Yes, and it is the most common thing we build. A panel system on the shower walls with a tiled bathroom floor gives you the floor you wanted and a shower with almost no grout to keep. A tiled niche inside a panel shower is another common combination. Choosing a packaged wall system does not rule tile out of the room.
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