Their own PERSONAL spa: A Towne Lake, Woodstock, GA bathroom renovation.

This post project video is entitled "Their own PERSONAL spa" because of the homeowner's own words. She said her friend told her the bathroom was like a "spa". What a compliment!

This bathroom renovation located in Towne Lake, Woodstock, GA was completed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I think it really speaks to our ability to get things done even in the worst circumstances. Many other companies would have pumped the brakes, we powered right through and I thank our clients for allowing that to happen.

This project began for the homeowners with someone else starting the project. This person got to a point where the homeowners felt he should be stopped and they should find people who were more suited for the project. That’s where we came in.

They stopped him at a very good time, early in the remodel. A less savvy homeowner could have been really taken to the cleaners. Thank goodness there was no tile set.

Some of what was done had to come out so that we could start with a clean slate. Once we had that achieved, we went into our process and step by step we knocked it out.

These type of projects are all too common for us. Going in after an amateur or worse yet “professionals” who don’t cut the mustard. We are used to it.

What bugs me is that people have to have this done to them first before they decide to hire guys like us.

One of my questions on the phone is: “Have you ever had tile work done before?”

If they say “no” I’m certain that they won’t pay more for our services, simply because if you’re a first timer you think ALL tile work is the same!

It takes getting cheated for people to figure out that it’s not.

It takes people getting cheated to realize that my website, blog, YouTube channel; credentials, experience, portfolio; is all a great big security blanket.

It takes people getting ripped off to come to terms with the fact that it’s better to pay for peace of mind then hunt for a “deal” and have to do it all again or not get what you want.

It takes a bad experience with another company for people to see how special we are.

Just because your neighbor gives someone a strong recommendation or just because the “builder” did the neighbors house…THAT’S NOT ENOUGH!

My question is: “WHAT DOES YOUR NEIGHBOR KNOW ABOUT GREAT TILE WORK!?”

Probably not much. They know it “looks” good, which is quite subjective.

Looks are SECONDARY.

What’s behind the tile is what is important, because what’s behind the tile is what ensures that tile project is going to LAST and FUNCTION the way it should.

Your neighbor has no clue what’s behind the tile.

The difference between us and your neighbors recommendation, is that with us you can verify what you’re going to get before we show up. You can trust your own eyes and ears.

Here’s what I’m talking about…

Have a look at our video, verify for yourself that “We are who we say we are and we do what we say we’ll do.”

Another happy customer in the books. Another project we can be proud of. Another notch in our portfolio.

Consistency. A great quality to have during your next bathroom remodel.

Towne Lake, Woodstock, GA bathroom renovation.

You found us. We are your guys.

The Hamilton Tile Pro Bathroom Demolition Difference: Woodstock, GA.

Professional, clean, bathroom demolition Woodstock, GA

Here at Hamilton Tile of Woodstock, GA we are always trying to differentiate ourselves from everyone else in the construction business. It's important for us to create separation from the rest and what that always means is a better service, a better product for our clients.

In this video I talk a bit about our bathroom demolition process. All this goes down on day one of the job and it's critical for us to start strong because it sets the tone for the rest of the job.

If you think a demolition is "just labor" and anyone with a strong body can do it, this video is for you and it will hopefully challenge your existing opinion. The YouTube video below shows you the professional bathroom demolition difference when it’s performed by Hamilton Tile of Woodstock, GA!

Hamilton Tile: Professional Finish, Tidy Service.

I hope everyone that contacts this video has an excellent day. Let's chase excellence!

A local fireman in Woodstock, GA gets a magazine worthy master bathroom.

Master bathroom shower renovation in Woodstock, GA.

This January bathroom remodel in Woodstock, GA was for a local fire fighter and his family. It was a fun one from the start. I remember fielding this initial call while my wife was at the dermatologist and I was hanging out with my 15 month old daughter (at the time) in a Starbucks. It’s the perfect example of what we small business guys go through daily. Trying to keep the baby quiet, while attempting to help a potential customer and put off a good first impression, talking to them about how these bathrooms “are just not possible for $10k.” Sometimes the most uncomfortable sales calls are the ones we book. I’m not sure why, I like to lean towards the fact that it shows a certain vulnerability and authenticity. I remember sending David a copy of one of our bids that was similar to the bathroom he wanted and saying, “Start adding up the lines, all the stuff adds up quick!” Can’t really get more transparent than that! I was just trying to show the amount of resources that go into these things!

These people were great because they had been readers of my blog and found it really useful, so they had a basic knowledge of who we were and how we worked. In hindsight, they followed our process to a T. They shopped at Tile House, bought high end plumbing fixtures from Ferguson’s, and allowed us to run our tried and true system. That’s the way to do it, don’t reinvent the wheel, trust the experts and let’s collaborate. I put a lot of time into building trust through this site and portraying the reality of Jason’s authority in this field. It helps us to relieve the inevitable anxiety of a bathroom remodel. Who would you rather hire? A company with the content to back up everything they are saying or some anonymous mystery man in a white van?

Below we have our before and after display. The before had a very small shower that was not operating as it should. It was an old ‘mud job’ and they are extremely good at hiding water damage. Lucky for us, David wanted to save some money, so he did the tear out himself. I’m sure it was a brutal one! I gained a bunch of admiration for his fortitude when I walked in and saw it complete! The trick here was increasing the size of the shower and being able to fit the new free standing tub at the same time. Jason’s expertise was on full display here. Those free standing tubs can be very pricey but if you’re looking for a good return on investment when you sell your house, you almost need one!

Woodstock, GA master bathroom remodel / renovation.

We installed a 4”x12” white subway tile with white Kerdi profiles. If you’ve ever read my blog before, you know I’m in love with Kerdi profiles, look at these picture, you can tell why! This was a very high quality Interceramic subway tile with very little ‘cupping’ so the brick set pattern turned out impeccably. We installed a very high quality Prizm grout by Custom which dries hard and dense, with built in sealer, which is key if you want to keep it clean. If you’re having a bathroom done, make sure the tile installer pulls the trigger on a better grout, nothing worse than a cheap grout that under performs!

The floor tile was excellent as well. It was an 8”x36” Panaria wood plank tile. The variation in color shades is incredible and the glaze was very thick! An extremely high quality tile. What do I always say, “We are only as good as the tile we are provided with.” We were provided with a high end tile so they received a very high end floor.

I wanted to mention that this large cabinet and top was bought at Costco at a considerable savings when compared to buying a custom one. They are pretty good quality too!

I like to point out that when you are hiring a tile guy, you’re not just hiring someone to stick tile to a wall. In the photos above and below you can clearly see the level of destruction this leaking shower had brought upon this house. Jason’s greatest talent isn’t layout or his overall knowledge of tile, it’s the fact that he gets these spaces back to structural integrity. When you have a gaping hole in your floor, or walls without studs, the ‘tile guy’ hat needs to come off, and the framer/engineering hat needs to go on. Jason’s 20 year training and trade school knowledge ensures our customers get put back together solid. Now, if you hire simply a ‘tile installer’ to do this work, how well do you think all this will go back together?

During this job I had a musing on my Twitter account (@atileguysjourney) about how you know you did a good job when you spent more time prepping an area than you do on the actual tile install. Man, that couldn’t have been more true on this one! As you can see from the 5 star Google review from Jennifer, the planning and prepping at this job was immense! In fact, very few jobs we do involve just showing up and tiling. We traditionally inform our potential clients that the only mystery about these jobs is how much prep needs to go into the floor to get it flat enough to allow large format tile, and how much time and material has to go into rebuilding the floors and walls. Ask your installer if he’s willing to go backwards in order to produce a lasting finish product.

Here we have our “flood test'“ in progress and Jason is working in tight quarters installing tile. Those green clips are the Lev-Tech leveling system that help us get a lip free floor. Using clips doesn’t mean we’re amateur tile installers, they are just tools like our wet saw is a tool. On this particular application it allowed us to actually bend some of the warp out of the tile. Try doing that without clips!

On this one we used Schluter Systems moisture management system that comes with an extensive factory warranty, not that it will ever be needed. The real advantage of this system is the weight relief on the home’s structure, because it is foam. Think about the weight involved in using cement. If you use a modern building system your house automatically gets stronger because you are lightening the load.

When we use tile with the amount of shade variation this tile had, we open all the boxes and pick from all of them as we are setting, to ensure a proper blending of the tile. We had limited space at this house, so it was a trick! We really appreciated the Millers’ patience while we were here. We do our best to limit the inconvenience, but I’m not going to lie, a bathroom remodel is quite a sacrifice for a while.

This floor had a considerable amount of variation in the substrate, meaning we would never be able to install huge tile like this. The biggest factor when installing big tile is having a nice, flat floor. So, we self leveled this floor with about 8 bags of Ardex Liquid Backerboard. Liquid Backerboard is a great product because you don’t have to use metal lathe. Check out my YouTube channel to see how we self level!

The reason we self level is so we can get thin set coverage like you see in the picture above. That’s what it’s supposed to look like. Collapsed thin set ridges, tile fully supported. You’d be surprised how few installers get coverage like this. We know because we tear out a bunch of mediocre work, but the point is, setting tile is a lot more than just spreading thin set and plopping it down. You have to WORK to get this kind of coverage and really know what you’re doing.

We all know about cracked grout in the corners of a shower. We’ve all seen it. There’s a simple fix and EVERY tile installer should know about it because it’s clearly written in the TCNA handbook (Tile Council of North America) and using silicone sealant in all plane changes is ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard. All houses move and if you use grout in your corners they will inevitably crack because grout is hard, it doesn’t allow for movement. When you use 100% silicone, it acts as a soft joint and allows for small amounts of movement, so 10 years from now that corner will look the same as it did when we left.

This silicone sealant is also color matched to the grout. I feel as if most guys skip this step because the silicone is hard to get, most places carry some “siliconized” latex junk, it also takes an extra degree of patience, as well as an extra trip. We don’t do it the day we grout because everything has to be dry for the silicone to stick properly. Yeah, doing things right costs more time, which is money. “Right” is not subjective. Right means, by the book.

We bought white curbs and made hard surface shelves for inside the extra large inset box. We locked these shelves into the tile for added strength. We were able to get the box nice and centered as well. Jason does really well with lay outs. Go ahead and zoom in!

“Is that corner bench strong?” We get that question all the time! Yes, it’s not just for looks…feel free to get on it and jump around! We build it out of 2” structural Kerdi foam and add a metal bar to add support. Penny rounds are very popular right now and they’re great for footing in a wet area.

Ultimately, the reason we do this is for happy clients. Would you say this is a magazine worthy bathroom? I particularly like the “built to last part”. She knows this because throughout the whole process they were involved in everything we did and we were sure to explain every aspect of this remodel. Once you see how we do things, live in person, you’ll really understand the difference between ‘value’ and ‘cost’.

Another master bathroom remodel blending looks, longevity and functionality in the books.

I love this photo because of the pink flowers and the lawn that is spot on! David had a great lawn, apparently maintained by his cousin, who deserves our praise!

Master Bathroom remodel: Woodstock, GA.

Woodstock, GA tile bathroom remodel and renovation

A recent master bathroom made with a experts touch. This was an enjoyable collaboration between Jason and the homeowner. We were all on the same page for the entirety of the project. We try to keep our process simple. From the first phone call, I asked a few questions to determine if we were a good fit for the homeowner’s needs. This particular client found us on Google and looked at our online content pretty extensively. I loved that so it was a great start to the relationship. We had a couple meetings, sent a detailed bid, figured out what we were going to do and put them on the schedule. They ordered their cabinet and tops, they handled the painting and we took care of the rest. That’s the advantage that we offer. Jason is a four year trade school grad, so he can handle pretty much anything we run into and not to a minimum standard, fly by the seat of your pants style, “good enough from my house” but by the book. Above standard, built to last. So, as a tile company, we seek to guide you. These people trusted our expertise and we listened to their needs. In cooperation we were able to put the pieces together and attain an amazing finished product at a great value for their money, adding distinction to their greatest investment and most personal space, their home.

The Five Star Google review:

“You owe it to your project to consider Hamilton Tile. Out of all the companies that we received quotes from, the professionalism, experience, and cost effectiveness provided by Hamilton could not be beat.

Our master bathroom remodel turned out absolutely perfect, and Hamilton Tile exceeded our every expectation.”

Chattahoochee Glass Doors with the amazing installation.

Notice the wall tile pattern is “wrapped” throughout the entirety of this shower. Details!

Subway tile is popular right now. Many different sizes and colors to pick from. I don’t foresee it ever going out of style. We use extremely high end building material. Silicone caulk, the best grout and thin set…Why not? Tile is a permanent finish, but it’s long lasting qualities depend on proper installation and the utilization of quality building material. With 25+ years of experience and a specialist’s mindset, we know what works and what doesn’t.

12”x24” porcelain tile set 1/3 offset.

A custom 12”x28” inset box with custom hard surface shelves. Edged with Kerdi profiles.

The custom made pan, created to fit the space.

How do we know it’s water proof? We tested it.