How to Retile a Bathroom Shower Yourself: A Complete DIY Guide

A tired, cracked, or mildewed shower can drag down the entire feel of your bathroom — and replacing it is one of the highest-impact upgrades you can make. Professional shower retiling typically runs $2,500 to $7,000 depending on your market and tile selection, but with the right preparation and a solid weekend (or two), you can handle this project yourself for a fraction of the cost.

I've retiled three showers in my own homes and helped friends through several more. It's not the easiest DIY project you'll ever tackle, but it's absolutely within reach if you're methodical and patient. Here's everything you need to know to get it done right.

What You'll Need: Tools and Materials

Before you tear a single tile off the wall, get everything gathered and staged. Nothing kills momentum like a mid-project trip to the hardware store.

Tools

• Oscillating multi-tool or reciprocating saw
• Pry bar and 5-in-1 painter's tool
• Notched trowel (1/4" x 3/8" V-notch for most wall tiles)
• Tile cutter or wet saw (rental is fine — expect about $50–$70/day)
• Grout float
• Level (4-foot preferred)
• Laser level or chalk line
• Mixing drill with paddle attachment
• Bucket and sponges
• Tape measure and pencil
• Tile spacers (1/16" or 1/8" depending on your look)
• Safety glasses, dust mask, and knee pads

Materials

• Tile (measure your square footage and add 15% for waste and cuts)
• Cement board (1/2" HardieBacker or similar)
• Cement board screws (1-1/4")
• Waterproofing membrane (RedGard, Hydroban, or Kerdi system)
• Thinset mortar (unmodified for membrane systems, modified for cement board)
• Grout (unsanded for joints under 1/8", sanded for wider)
• Silicone caulk (color-matched to grout)
• Mesh tape for cement board seams
• Plastic sheeting and painter's tape for protecting surrounding areas

Budget roughly $500–$1,200 in materials for a standard 30-square-foot shower surround, depending heavily on your tile choice. Subway tile runs $2–$5 per square foot; natural stone or large-format porcelain can be $8–$15+.

Demolition: Removing the Old Tile

This is the dusty, loud, satisfying part. Set aside 3–5 hours for a standard shower demo.

Prep Your Space

Lay plastic sheeting over the bathroom floor and tape off the doorway. Tile demo generates an enormous amount of dust and debris. Stuff a rag into the drain opening so chunks don't clog your plumbing — this is a mistake you only make once.

Remove the Tile

Start at a corner or an edge where you can get behind the tile. Use your 5-in-1 tool or pry bar to pop the first few tiles off, then work your way across. If the tiles are set on drywall (common in older homes), you'll likely pull the paper face right off the drywall with them. That's fine — you're going to remove the drywall backing anyway.

Important: If your home was built before 1980, test for asbestos in the setting material before demolition. A home test kit costs about $30 and could save you from a serious health hazard.

Once the tile is off, remove the old backer material down to the studs. Cut cement board or drywall into manageable sections with your oscillating tool. Inspect the studs carefully — look for any signs of rot, mold, or water damage. If you find soft or discolored wood, now is the time to sister new lumber alongside the damaged studs. Don't skip this. You're building on a foundation, and it needs to be solid.

Clean Up Between Steps

Bag the debris as you go. A shower demo can easily produce 200–300 pounds of waste. Most of this goes in regular construction bags, but check your local disposal rules for tile and cement board.

Installing Cement Board and Waterproofing

This stage isn't glamorous, but it's arguably the most important part of the entire project. The number one reason DIY shower tile fails is inadequate waterproofing. Tile and grout are not waterproof — they're water-resistant at best. The real moisture barrier is what goes behind and under them.

Hang the Cement Board

Cut 1/2" cement board panels to fit your shower walls. Score and snap works for straight cuts; use a jigsaw with a carbide blade for curves around the showerhead and valve. Leave a 1/4" gap at the bottom where the board meets the tub or shower pan — this will be filled with silicone later, not thinset.

Attach panels to studs with 1-1/4" cement board screws every 8 inches. Tape all seams and corners with alkali-resistant mesh tape, then skim a thin coat of thinset over the tape and let it dry.

Waterproof Everything

Apply your waterproofing membrane over the entire cement board surface. If you're using a liquid membrane like RedGard:

1. Roll or brush on the first coat, working it into seams and corners
2. Let it dry completely (it changes from pink to solid red, typically 1–3 hours)
3. Apply a second coat perpendicular to the first
4. Let that coat dry fully before tiling

You want a minimum dry film thickness of 30 mils — most manufacturers recommend two coats to achieve this. Don't rush the drying time. If you tile over a membrane that hasn't fully cured, you're trapping moisture in the wall assembly.

For the shower floor and curb (if applicable), consider a sheet membrane like Schluter Kerdi for extra insurance. These areas see the most direct water exposure and deserve extra attention.

Planning Your Tile Layout

Never start setting tile without a dry layout. I've watched people jump straight to thinset and end up with a sliver of tile along the ceiling line or an off-center pattern around the showerhead. Fifteen minutes of planning saves hours of regret.

Find Your Center Lines

Measure the back wall of the shower and mark the horizontal center. Use your laser level to project a vertical line. Dry-fit a row of tiles along this line in both directions. Look at where the tiles end at each corner — ideally you want cut pieces that are at least half a tile wide on both sides. If they're not, shift your center line by half a tile width.

Repeat this process vertically. Determine where you want your bottom row to start. If you're tiling to the ceiling, plan so that the top row is a full tile or close to it — cut tiles at the bottom are less noticeable since they're below eye level.

Mark Reference Lines

Snap or project horizontal and vertical reference lines on your waterproofed walls. These are your guides during installation. Use a ledger board (a straight piece of 1x3 screwed temporarily into the studs) along your first horizontal line. This gives your first row of tiles a perfectly level platform to sit on while the thinset cures.

Plan for the Niche

If you're installing a recessed shower niche (and you should — they're incredibly practical), now is the time to frame it out if you haven't already. Standard niche sizes fit between two studs at 14-1/2" wide. Plan the niche location so its edges align with your tile layout, minimizing awkward cuts.

Setting the Tile

This is where the project starts to visually come together. Work in manageable sections — about 8–10 square feet at a time — so your thinset doesn't skin over before you set the tile.

Mix and Apply Thinset

Mix your thinset to a smooth, peanut-butter-like consistency. Let it slake (rest) for 10 minutes, then remix briefly. Spread it on the wall with the flat edge of your notched trowel, then comb through it with the notched edge at a 45-degree angle. This creates consistent ridges that collapse evenly when you press the tile in.

Pro tip: Also "back-butter" each tile with a thin skim coat of thinset on the back. This improves adhesion dramatically, especially on large-format tiles (anything over 8" on a side). For shower walls, achieving 95% coverage on the back of each tile is the industry standard — back-buttering helps you get there.

Set Tiles From the Bottom Up

Start on your ledger board and work upward, pressing each tile into the thinset with a slight twisting motion. Insert spacers between tiles as you go. Check your work with a level every few rows. Small misalignments compound quickly — catching a problem on row 3 is much easier than discovering it on row 12.

For inside corners, don't butt tiles directly together. Leave a 1/8" gap that you'll fill with silicone caulk (not grout) later. Corners are movement joints — they flex slightly as the house settles and shifts with temperature. Grout in corners will crack; silicone won't.

Cutting Tiles

A manual tile cutter handles straight cuts on most ceramic and porcelain. For notches, L-cuts, or curves around plumbing, you'll need the wet saw. Key cutting tips:

• Measure twice, mark with a wax pencil
• Cut with the finished face up on a manual cutter, face down on most wet saws
• For small holes (like around a valve stem), use a diamond hole saw bit on your drill
• Cut tiles tend to have sharp edges — keep a rubbing stone handy to smooth them

Let the thinset cure for a full 24 hours before grouting. No shortcuts here.

Grouting and Finishing

Grouting is where a good tile job becomes a great-looking tile job. It takes patience and attention, but the technique itself is straightforward.

Apply the Grout

Mix your grout to the manufacturer's specifications. Using your grout float, spread it diagonally across the tile joints, pressing firmly to pack the grout into every gap. Work in sections of about 10 square feet.

After spreading, hold the float at a steep 70–80 degree angle and scrape off the excess with diagonal strokes. Wait 15–20 minutes (the grout should be firm but not hard), then wipe with a damp — not wet — sponge in circular motions. Rinse the sponge frequently. You'll need to make 2–3 passes to get the tile faces clean.

The Haze Wipe

After the grout sets for a couple of hours, a hazy film will develop on the tile surface. Buff this off with a dry microfiber cloth or cheesecloth. If you let it sit too long (overnight or more), the haze becomes much harder to remove and may require a commercial haze remover.

Caulk the Transitions

Every change of plane gets silicone caulk, not grout:

• Where the walls meet each other (inside corners)
• Where the walls meet the tub, shower pan, or floor
• Around the showerhead escutcheon and valve trim
• Around any niches or shelves

Use a high-quality, mildew-resistant silicone matched to your grout color. Apply painter's tape along both sides of the joint for clean lines, lay a bead of caulk, smooth it with a wet finger or caulk tool, and peel the tape immediately while the silicone is still wet.

Seal the Grout

After the grout has cured for 72 hours, apply a penetrating grout sealer. This step is non-negotiable in a shower — unsealed grout will absorb water and eventually grow mold from within. Apply the sealer with a small applicator bottle or brush, wipe off the excess from the tile faces, and let it cure per the label. Plan to reseal once a year for ongoing protection.

Timeline, Costs, and Final Tips

Realistic Timeline

For a standard tub-shower surround, plan on:

• Day 1: Demolition and cleanup (4–6 hours)
• Day 2: Cement board and first coat of waterproofing (3–4 hours)
• Day 3: Second waterproofing coat and tile layout planning (2–3 hours)
• Day 4–5: Tile setting (6–10 hours total depending on complexity)
• Day 6: Grouting (3–4 hours, after 24-hour thinset cure)
• Day 7: Caulking and cleanup (1–2 hours, after grout sets)

That's roughly two weekends if you can't take days off, with drying time filling the weekdays between.

Cost Breakdown

Item	Estimated Cost
Tile (35 sq ft + 15% waste)	$100–$500
Cement board	$40–$60
Waterproofing membrane	$50–$80
Thinset mortar	$30–$50
Grout and sealer	$25–$40
Silicone caulk	$8–$15
Screws, tape, spacers	$20–$30
Wet saw rental (2 days)	$100–$140
Total	$375–$915

Compare that to the $2,500–$7,000 professional quote, and you can see why this project is worth the sweat equity.

Tips From Hard-Won Experience

• Don't tile over existing tile unless it's perfectly bonded and level. You'll add weight, reduce your shower interior space, and complicate future repairs.
• Buy all your tile at once from the same lot number. Color can vary between production runs.
• Keep 5–10 extra tiles stored after the project. If you ever need to repair a cracked tile years later, you'll be glad you have exact matches.
• Temperature matters. Don't tile or grout if the bathroom is below 50°F or above 90°F. Thinset and grout need moderate, stable temps to cure properly.
• Take progress photos at every stage — especially of the waterproofing before it's covered by tile. If you ever sell the house, showing a buyer that the waterproofing was done correctly is powerful.

Retiling your shower is a project that demands patience and precision, but there's nothing here that requires professional training. Follow the steps, respect the drying times, and don't cut corners on waterproofing. The result will be a shower that looks custom-built, lasts for decades, and saves you thousands of dollars in labor. That's a weekend well spent.