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Schluter Bathroom Remodeling: The Long Beach Owner’s Guide
Schluter bathroom remodeling in Long Beach typically runs $9,000 – $28,000 installed, depending on whether we’re re-waterproofing a failing shower pan, rebuilding a KERDI board surround, or gutting the full bathroom to the studs and starting fresh. We stock Schluter KERDI membrane, KERDI-BAND, KERDI-BOARD, and DITRA underlayment on our trucks, and we can usually start the tear-out within a week of the written price being signed. Most Long Beach homeowners discover a Schluter failure the hard way: loose tiles at the shower floor perimeter, a faint mildew smell that never really goes away, or grout that stays darkened in one corner no matter how long the fan runs.
Written price before any work starts. Every time. That includes the Schluter part number, the layout, and the labor, down to the last sheet of KERDI.
Which Schluter Models This Applies To
If your shower was built with an orange polyethylene waterproofing membrane, you have a Schluter system. The most common in Long Beach homes are KERDI membrane over a mortar bed, KERDI-BOARD panels over studs, and DITRA uncoupling membrane under floor tile. The compatibility gotcha owners miss: KERDI and KERDI-BOARD use different seam details. KERDI sheet membrane requires a minimum 2-inch overlap at every seam, sealed with KERDI-BAND or a KERDI-KERECK preformed corner. KERDI-BOARD panels use the same 2-inch seam rule, but the panel joints are reinforced with KERDI-BAND and the screws get patched with KERDI-FIX or a KERDI-SEAL patch. An off-the-shelf KERDI roll from a big-box store won’t include the preformed inside and outside corners. Those matter. A shower that skips the preformed corners will leak at the pan-to-curb transition within a few years, which is exactly the repair call we get most often in Belmont Shore and Naples, where the original build dates back to the 1970s and 1980s.
For OEM versus aftermarket: Schluter doesn’t license third-party equivalents. The KERDI membrane is a proprietary bonded polyethylene with a fleece webbing on both sides. Generic waterproofing sheets exist, but they do not carry Schluter’s warranty. We install genuine Schluter products on every Schluter repair, so the manufacturer warranty travels with the finished work. If you bring us an off-brand roll, we’ll quote it, but we’ll also tell you plainly that the seams are where aftermarket products fail first in southern California’s humidity swings.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Schluter Bathroom Remodeling Is Failing
- Loose or hollow-sounding floor tiles near the shower entry. The Schluter membrane or the mortar bed beneath it has lost bond, usually from a slow pan leak that’s been wicking moisture into the subfloor for months.
- Persistent mildew odor that returns within days of cleaning. Water is trapped behind the membrane or inside the curb. In Long Beach’s coastal air, this never dries out on its own, and the smell is the first thing pet owners notice before any tile moves.
- Darkened grout lines in one corner that never lighten after drying. Water is pooling underneath the tile and wicking up through the grout from below. The membrane has a pinhole or a failed seam at that corner.
- Soft or crumbling grout at the shower floor perimeter. The grout has been saturated so long it’s losing its binder. By the time grout crumbles, the wood subfloor beneath it has usually started to soften too.
- Vinyl or laminate floor outside the shower is cupping or gapping. Water is traveling horizontally under the tile and escaping the shower footprint. This is the ticket item: the leak has moved beyond the waterproofed area.
See the difference
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After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In Long Beach, a Schluter shower pan replacement alone runs $4,500 – $12,000. A full Schluter bathroom remodel, including the shower rebuild, KERDI-BOARD walls, DITRA underlayment, new tile, and a new vanity, lands between $9,000 and $28,000. What drives the range: the size of the shower footprint, whether the subfloor needs replacing once we pull the old pan, whether the curb needs to be rebuilt, and the tile you choose. A hand-laid glass mosaic costs more to set than a 12-by-24 porcelain.
Every quote includes the written line-item price, the Schluter parts list by part number, the labor to remove the old system down to the studs and subfloor, and the Carlisle-style protection we lay down: drop cloths on every floor path, shoe covers at the door, and a photo of the clean-up before the crew leaves. The workmanship is covered by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not done right, we make it right.
DIY or Call Us?
There are two safe checks an owner can do without opening the wall. First, inspect the shower floor for cracks in the grout where it meets the wall, and tap the tiles with a screwdriver handle. Hollow sounds mean bond loss. Second, run the shower for 20 minutes and watch the floor outside the curb for any darkening at the seams. What you should not do is lift a single tile to peek. Schluter systems are only waterproof when intact, and the moment you puncture the membrane to see what’s underneath, you’ve created the leak you were looking for. Correct repair means removing the entire pan or entire wall section, re-laying the membrane with proper overlaps, and flood-testing the pan for 24 hours before tiling. That’s not a weekend job, and a failed flood test means tearing out the fresh work. Call (562) 512-7086 and we’ll bring the right membrane, the right corners, and a written price before anything comes off the wall.
FAQs
A properly installed Schluter KERDI system lasts 30 years or more, even in Long Beach’s salt-air humidity, provided the seams were done with preformed corners and the correct overlap. We see the failures we do because the original install skipped a corner, used a thin-set not approved for Schluter, or never flood-tested the pan before tiling. Call (562) 512-7086 and we’ll tell you what you have.
In most cases, a localized seam repair isn’t reliable on a shower that’s already leaking, because the water has already traveled under the membrane. The honest repair is a pan replacement or a wall section replacement, not a patch. We’ll tell you which one you need after we pull the tile and see what’s underneath. Estimates are free, and the written price comes before demolition starts.
Most Schluter shower rebuilds run 5 to 10 working days, including demolition, subfloor repair, membrane installation, the 24-hour flood test, and tile setting. We keep the same two-person crew on the job from day one to the last day, and we’ll let you know if the flood test changes the timeline before it costs you anything.
Yes. Our trucks carry KERDI membrane, KERDI-BAND, KERDI-BOARD, preformed corners, KERDI-FIX, and DITRA. If you have a shower that’s already open, we can often quote the exact parts the same day. We also stock parts for KraftMaid cabinets, Cambria and Silestone tops, so a bathroom remodel doesn’t have to stop at the tile.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling Long Beach at Elmstead Remodeling Long Beach, serving Long Beach and nearby areas.
