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Schluter Bathroom Remodeling: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide
Schluter bathroom remodeling in Los Angeles typically runs $10,620 – $33,040 installed, depending on the size of the wet area and which Schluter system components the job requires. We stock Schluter KERDI membrane, DITRA underlayment, KERDI-BOARD panels, and the full line of Schluter profiles and drains on our trucks, so most tear-out and waterproofing work can start the day we show up. You usually discover you need us when a corner of the shower starts staining, a tile pops loose at the curb, or the grout at the floor line never quite dries out anymore. That is almost always a waterproofing failure behind the tile, not a tile problem, and in Los Angeles it happens more often in older homes where showers were built before bonded waterproofing membranes became standard.
Before you rip anything out, here are the facts. Schluter systems fail almost never when installed correctly, which is precisely why the failure is usually the original installer’s workmanship, not the material. The orange membrane you see in every Schluter photo is KERDI, a polyethylene sheet with a fleece webbing on both sides. You need a full replacement when water has gotten underneath the original waterproofing layer, because by the time you see the stain, the framing behind it has been wet for months.
- Installed price range: $10,620 – $33,040 for a full Schluter-based bathroom remodel in Los Angeles.
- What fails first: corners, curbs, and pipe penetrations, places where the membrane was cut or folded rather than properly lapped.
- What we carry: KERDI membrane by the roll, KERDI-BAND, pre-formed corners, KERDI-DRAIN assemblies, and Schluter profile edging in standard finishes.
- The California reality: hard water in Los Angeles degrades grout and caulk faster than the membrane itself, so recurring staining at the pan is usually a symptom of a deeper waterproofing gap, not a surface issue.
Which Schluter Models This Applies To
The Schluter line for bathrooms covers three main systems: KERDI (the sheet membrane that rolls onto walls, curbs, benches, and floors), DITRA (the orange uncoupling mat that goes under tile on bathroom floors, decoupling tile movement from the subfloor), and KERDI-BOARD (rigid foam panels that replace cement board and drywall in wet areas). If your shower pan is a prefabricated Schluter tray, it is part of the KERDI-SHOWER-KIT line, which comes in center-drain and offset-drain configurations in multiple sizes. Here is the gotcha most Los Angeles homeowners do not know: Schluter trays are not universally trimmable. You cannot cut a tray down on all four sides and keep the perimeter level, because the tray slope is built radially toward the drain. If your existing shower footprint does not match a stock tray size, or if the original installer trimmed a tray unevenly, the right fix is a mortar bed sloped to the drain with KERDI on top, not another tray cut to fit.
On parts compatibility, Schluter genuinely makes this easier than most brands. The fleece-backed membrane welds to itself with thinset, so as long as you are using KERDI, KERDI-BAND, and Schluter pre-formed corners from the same system, you get the 10-year Schluter warranty when the install follows their published details. Aftermarket equivalents exist for some trim profiles, but we will not substitute a generic drain assembly or membrane on a Schluter job. The material cost difference is not worth voiding a system warranty, and the fleece bonding is too important to the waterproofing to risk a knockoff.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Schluter Bathroom Remodeling Is Failing
- Grout at the shower floor line stays dark or damp two days after the last shower. Water is trapped under the tile, sitting against the membrane or the mud bed. This is not a grout problem; the waterproofing layer is holding water against the tile assembly.
- Tiles sound hollow when you tap the bottom 12 inches of the shower walls. The thinset has lost its bond, usually because it was mixed too dry or the membrane got sagged and creased during original installation.
- You smell something musty near the shower but cannot see mold. The smell is coming from water that has migrated behind the tile into the wall cavity or under the curb. By this point the framing has been wet long enough to begin softening.
- The curb tiles crack along the top edge or at the inside corner. Curb movement is the classic failure point. A curb built of stacked 2x4s wrapped in KERDI can still flex under weight if the framing was not solid. Once the tile cracks there, water gets a direct path into the curb.
- Brown staining appears at the bottom of a niche or at the corner where the wall meets the pan. Niche corners and bench edges are where installers most often forget the pre-formed KERDI corners or the proper lap sequence. Water finds those gaps first.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A Schluter bathroom remodel in Los Angeles runs $10,620 – $33,040 installed. That is the honest range: a smaller shower replacement with a new KERDI waterproofing assembly and standard tile lands near the low end, while a full bathroom remodel with a new KERDI-DRAIN, custom mud bed, bench or niche work, and higher-end tile can reach the top of the range. Here is what drives the number: the condition of the framing once we open the wall, whether the existing drain location matches a stock tray or requires a sloped mortar bed, how many Schluter profiles and trim pieces the finish requires, and what tile and fixtures you choose. We write the price after we see the job, and we put it in writing before we pull a single tile.
Every Schluter remodel we do includes the written price up front, all demolition and disposal, the full Schluter waterproofing assembly, tile and setting materials, plumbing trim-out, and a written 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the work fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge. That is the whole promise: say the price before the work, show up in the window we gave, leave the place cleaner than we found it, and stand behind the result in writing.
DIY or Call Us?
What you can safely do is diagnose: run your hand along the curb for cracks, tap the lower wall tiles for hollow sounds, note where the staining starts. Do not start cutting into the shower to “find the leak.” The membrane is hidden behind the tile, and by the time you get to it you have destroyed the shower surface and any way to properly re-waterproof it without a full rebuild. Improperly installed KERDI is worse than no KERDI, because the failure hides longer and rots more framing before you catch it.
Our honest position: if you see dark grout, hollow tiles, or smell moisture, the fix is a professional teardown and re-waterproofing, not a caulk touch-up. Call (213) 277-6578 and we will tell you what we think it costs before anything gets scheduled. Give you a number first, then pick up the tools.
FAQs
A correctly installed Schluter KERDI shower assembly should last 25 – 30 years or longer, but the tile and grout over it will wear faster, especially with Los Angeles hard water. The membrane itself carries a 10-year Schluter warranty when installed to their specs; our workmanship carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise, plus a free return visit if something fails inside that window. Call (213) 277-6578 for an exact quote.
In almost every case, a visible waterproofing failure requires a full teardown of the affected area, not a spot repair. You cannot properly lap new KERDI membrane behind existing tile, and partial repairs always leave a seam exactly where water wants to travel. We will tell you plainly after we open it up, and the written price covers the full repair, not a patch. Reach us at (213) 277-6578.
A standard shower re-waterproofing and tile replacement in Los Angeles runs 7 – 14 working days depending on shower size, drain work, and whether you are adding a bench or niche. The demolition and waterproofing portion takes the first three to four days; tile setting and curing, grout, and plumbing trim-out fill the rest. We give you a real arrival window before work starts, and we show up in it.
We stock KERDI membrane, KERDI-BAND, pre-formed corners, KERDI-DRAIN assemblies, and common Schluter profiles on the truck, so most waterproofing work starts the day we arrive. Special-order items like uncommon profile finishes or oversized trays go through our supplier and typically land in three to five business days. Call (213) 277-6578 and we will confirm what we have before we ever step foot on the job.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles at Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles and nearby areas.
