A tub to shower transfer for Dave in Woodstock, GA.

I was able to get some finished photos of a shower I completed in Woodstock, GA today. This was the second bathroom I did in this house and Dave and Mary were great customers! They did a lot of research before the project and invested a lot of time looking through my content, so the job sold itself. I love when people take advantage of my site to learn about me and our company because I put a lot of time into this platform and the whole idea of this site is to show and explain the difference between us and the next guy.

I often times get discouraged because I've been finding it hard lately to get people to CARE about any of...THIS (our online content) I suppose this business is a lot about social capital, who you know, if they "like" you, your charisma....We're a lot like Mike Holmes on HGTV, we come in assess the situation and tell people up front what they have to do. Not too much sugar coating. We're getting better at the sales side but it's not our strongest skill, so whenever someone calls me and says..."I've looked at your site/content and I like what I see", I feel like I have a better chance at booking the job and the introductory stuff is put on the back burner. But getting people to care and be interested in something other than price and who's going to come out and tell them what they want to hear and tap dance the best....It's tough!

With that being said, I will never give up trying to change the game here in the Atlanta area to better provide for my customers. People may not investigate online to find their tile guys at this point in time, but I'm going to stay persistent in hopes of changing the recruiting process for the better. I'm sick of seeing people being shafted by the smooth talker, the low price, the band aid, the minimum standard.

But as I said, Dave and Mary were very savvy and knew what they wanted and we got along great. They were awesome to work for. They cared about all the right things and as their reward they received an awesome finished bathroom that will last forever and looks great. Dave said to me today, "I'm going to live in this house for the rest of my life and I wanted something that would last. I never knew how much went into this until I watched you work and now I'm noticing shoddy tile work all over the place."

Tile house in Marietta provided all the tile and I thank them as well for taking care of my client so well. (Again and again and again and again)

Thanks for having me!

A full Schluter Systems shower with a standardized installation process and a 10 year warranty. The other guys are cheaper because they do not offer this level of moisture management. I'm Ben and I take immense pride in my work.

Had to use blue tape to cover these mosaic pieces because when grout gets into the crevices, it won't come out! I used Mapei's Flex color single component grout and it will look the same in 10 years as when I left. The other bid is cheaper because they are not using high end grout.

I used full silicone caulking (sealent) around all the plane changes (corners,etc) The other bid is cheaper because they are not using full silicone sealant according to ANSI standards.

An over size inset box and corner bench. Schluter Quadec brush nickle profile edging.

To top it all off, the best dog (and my favorite breed) DEUCE!!! Well behaved, friendly, great listener, loyal.

Our latest finished tile bathrooms around the Atlanta area.

We have been very busy lately!. There is no doubt we are finishers, taking these projects from ideas to reality.

This tub surround is an interesting piece in Sandy Springs, GA. I like this one because it takes a traditional subway tile, but instead of white, they decided to go with gray. The floor in this area are 12"x24" porcelain tile. Looks a lot like natural stone though, doesn't it? That's the beauty...the look of natural stone...without the maintenance!

This full tile shower in Sandy Springs, GA was a very interesting project. It has traditional slate tile on the floor, which isn't my favorite to work with...actually I despise it because of the different thickness, sizes and variation in the tile, but let's face it....I'm not paid for my opinion. Let me say this...When you're a person like me who goes for flat, and smooth to the touch when installing tile....a slate project makes for a frustrating day.

Inside the shower was a 4"x4" white subway brick set with kerdi bar edging. They added a corner bench and Fusion pro single component grout for a maintenance free install. Only an interior designer could come up with a combination like this! Visit her website at www.heatherfulkersoninteriors.com.

This tile tub surround is in Johns Creek, GA and these folks were going all out renovating the inside and outside of their home. Simple subway tile tub surround.  All the way to the ceiling with the tile to show we are serious.

Milton, GA bathroom tile shower remodel.

This tile tub surround was located in Milton, GA. I really enjoyed installing this Arabesque floor and I was very happy with how it turned out. This tile was purchased from Floor and Décor which can be hit or miss, but the arabesque tile was packaged so meticulously, it was a breeze to install. A word about mosaics, the storage and shipping of this type of tile is of the utmost importance. Having it stored flat, and packaged securely (temperature controlled) makes it so the tile (which is glued to a mesh) does not get distorted which makes the sheets impossible to fit together with consistent grout lines. This stuff was packed on cardboard and wrapped in plastic and it even had directions and manufacturer information on the package. This is outside the character of floor and décor, but I like it!

Simple 3"x6" tile on the walls...again up to the ceiling to signal saving $20 isn't more important than producing a high end finished product.

Finally this natural stone center piece in Roswell, GA. This one was a designer piece with Hexagon tiles on the floor. I went off a drawing on this one and brought it in for the win. We have a natural stone on the walls brick set as well. A little bit more money put into this install but a stone product really screams wealth, prosperity and most importantly longevity.

The best bathroom remodel in Marietta, GA

Back again with another tile update from Hamilton Tile! This bathroom for the Mayhew's in Marietta, GA was a tile emergency. Their previous shower was built so incorrectly it leaked to the point of rotting out their house. The old shower was your basic, builder grade, minimum standard, blowout special that we see so often:

So, looking at the photos can you understand why I'm so hard on builders? This is why when you find a good builder you should keep him around. It's not as if they don't know that a shower has to be water proof, a shower sees more water per year than your roof...A LOT MORE. Shoddy building all over Atlanta creates a living for us, but this degree of obsolescence is unethical. Many builders are just plain shady. There I said it!  This is why I put this information out there, because ultimately when hiring a contractor you have to watch out for yourself! If the price seems to low, it probably is. If your contractor can't tell you why he does things, he probably doesn't know. If he doesn't cite ANSI or TCNA standards...He probably doesn't care and he's making it up as he goes..

This shower leaked enough to rot out this engineered beam. It could have been much much worse than this. We ended up doing some creative framing and plating the beam with 2x10's. You can see the mold and the damage this improperly built shower perpetrated. It had no pre-slope and the tile was set directly to sheet rock. It was a real GEM!

Nothing we couldn't handle:

In this video we get to putting things back together....Not below standard, or minimum standards...but LIFETIME standards. Schluter Systems, Trade school graduate, 20+ years experience.

We ended up eliminating the tub and building a wall for the fixtures. Notice the cleanliness, getting a high end finished product starts with the basics that we learned in shop class. Keep your space clean and organized, that way your customer is happy and you get to keep all your fingers and toes because you're going to have an accident free job.

I see many of the 'pros' using ledger boards for their first row...Here's a note, If you're pan is level all the way around from the start...you don't have to cut your bottom row of tile. They all go up the same size all the way around.

Using a leveling system for large format helps get a lip free install! The leveling system is the green wedges you see in the photo. You embed a clip in the thin set under the tile and insert a wedge to pull everything flat.

A big difference from start to finish. This was a rewarding job for us not only because we're pursuing a passion but because we got to work with people that were invested more than monetarily in their project. We had done work in this house previously and from the start of this job the Mayhew's were involved and excited. Just the fact that they visited this website makes all the work I do on it worth it. Some guys dread working around intrigued clients, mostly because their work is not above board. We love the engineer types because they care as much as we do which adds a whole other level of satisfaction. Like we always say: "If you care about how your project is built, WE WANT TO WORK FOR YOU!" Thanks to the Mayhew's for having us.

Be sure to check out the positive review:

Hamilton Tile Google Review

Hamilton Tile Houzz Review

 

Be sure to check out my process video!

New to video making, but it adds a new wrinkle so you can really get a taste of what we do. I'm sure the hundredth one will be ready for Sundance. As Scott Adams says, it pays to have a good talent stack and videos are now just another piece to the puzzle. Enjoy!