Tile in San Jose
Handyman service · San Jose & the South Bay
Cracked tiles, crumbling grout, or a shower that needs a fresh start — we repair and install tile in bathrooms, kitchens, and entryways with straight lines and clean grout work.
What we handle
- Shower and tub surround tiling
- Cracked tile replacement
- Grout repair and re-grouting
- Kitchen backsplashes
- Floor tile repair and installation
- Caulking and waterproof sealing
Tile fails from behind, not from the front. That means the job is decided before the first tile ever goes on the wall. The substrate has to be flat and solid, wet areas need real waterproofing behind the tile — not just drywall — and the thinset needs full coverage, not five dabs on the back of each tile. Lines stay straight, joints stay consistent, and the corners where planes meet get flexible caulk instead of grout, because grout in a moving joint always cracks. Cheap tile work skips exactly those steps. Spot-bonded tiles sound hollow and crack under a dropped shampoo bottle, grouted corners split within a year, and tile set over bare drywall in a shower turns into a soft, moldy wall behind a hard surface. The fix costs far more than doing it right would have.
Most of the tile we're called to in San Jose and the South Bay is original to the house — 1960s-to-1980s tub surrounds set on mastic, grout that's decades past its service life, and hall-bath floors laid straight over the slab. The failure pattern is predictable: grout at the tub line crumbles first, water wicks in behind the tile, and by the time a tile falls off there's often soft backing or dry rot hiding in the wall. On floors, hairline slab movement — common on the valley's expansive clay soils — telegraphs up through rigid tile as a crack running straight across several tiles. Add the mineral-heavy local water that stains grout, and a shower that "looks tired" is usually three separate small problems stacked together.
We start by telling you which of those problems you actually have. If a regrout, caulk, and seal will buy the surround years, we'll say so. If water has been getting behind the tile for a long time, we'll open a small section, show you, and be straight about it — a full shower re-tile runs past the sub-$1,000 handyman scope we work in, and we'll point you to a licensed tile contractor instead of stretching the job. When we do the work, tubs and floors get covered, dust gets contained, matching tile gets sourced — or the closest available match gets your approval first — and grout haze and debris leave with us. You get cure times in writing so nothing gets wet early.
How we approach tile
- 1We inspect the tile, tap for hollow spots, and check caulk lines and any soft areas behind wet walls.
- 2You get a fixed scope and price — repair, regrout, or an honest referral if it's beyond handyman scope.
- 3We protect the tub, floors, and fixtures, then remove failed grout, caulk, or damaged tiles cleanly.
- 4New tile goes in with full thinset coverage, grout is matched, and movement joints get silicone — not grout.
- 5We seal the grout, clean off haze, haul the debris, and leave written cure times before water use.
Typical cost: $150 – $900. See the full pricing guide — every job gets a firm quote before work begins.
More tile projects
Tile — common questions
- Can you match my existing tile?
- Usually, yes. We take a sample or photos and source the same tile or the closest current match — many older lines are discontinued, so we'll show you options before committing. If nothing matches acceptably, we'll suggest a deliberate accent, like a contrasting band, rather than a near-miss that reads as a mistake.
- Do I need a regrout or a full re-tile?
- If the tile is sound and the failure is in the grout and caulk, a regrout is the right call and costs a fraction of re-tiling. If tiles are loose or hollow, or the wall behind is soft, regrouting only hides the problem. We tap-test and check before quoting so you don't pay for the wrong fix. Price-wise, tile work spans our $150 – $900 range, and this question usually decides where you land. Recaulking a tub line sits at the bottom; a full tub-surround regrout lands mid-range; replacing a section of loose tile — sourcing a match, cutting out the failed area, rebuilding the backing, then setting, grouting and sealing — pushes toward the top. A typical example: a 1970s hall bath where the tub-line grout had crumbled but the tile was still sound took a regrout and fresh silicone, a fraction of what re-tiling would have cost.
- Do you do full shower remodels?
- No. A full shower re-tile runs well past $1,000 in labor and materials, which puts it outside the handyman scope we work in — that's a job for a licensed tile or general contractor, and we'll say so up front. We handle the repairs, regrouting, caulking, backsplashes, and section replacements that keep an existing shower going.
- How long before I can use the shower?
- Plan on about 72 hours after grouting and caulking before regular showers — grout needs to cure and silicone needs to skin and set fully. Floor tile can usually take foot traffic in 24 hours. We leave exact times for the specific products we used, since fast-set and standard materials differ.
Need tile done right?
Tell us what needs doing and we'll get you a clear estimate.