What does tiling a bathroom's walls and floor cost?

What a typical bathroom costs to tile

A standard Estonian bathroom of 4 to 6 square metres, tiled floor to ceiling with mid-sized rectified tiles in a straight pattern, usually comes to somewhere between 1200 € and 2500 € in labour, on top of the tiles themselves. That range covers surface preparation, waterproofing where needed, laying, and grouting.

Smaller bathrooms and toilets under 3 square metres can come in under 1000 € in labour if the walls are flat and square and the layout is simple. A larger bathroom with a separate shower area, a bath surround and a niche for shampoo bottles pushes the same job towards 3000 € or more.

These figures assume the walls and floor are ready for tiles: no old tile to strip, no rot or damp to deal with, and a floor that is level enough that only a thin levelling coat is needed. Anything short of that adds hours, which is where quotes start to diverge.

What removing the old tile adds to the price

Stripping old tile is manual work with an angle grinder or a chisel and hammer drill, and it is slow: a bathroom's worth of wall and floor tile typically takes 4 to 8 hours to remove and clear, depending on how well the old tile is bonded and how thick the old adhesive bed is. That alone can add 150 € to 350 € to a job.

Older flats, especially Soviet-era panel buildings, often have tile set directly onto a cement screed with no membrane underneath. Removing it can reveal a floor that needs patching or re-levelling before new tile goes down, and that is priced once the substrate is visible, not before.

Disposal is worth asking about specifically. Rubble from a stripped bathroom is heavy, and hauling it out of a fourth-floor flat with no lift takes real time. Some quotes include disposal, others price it separately by the bag or by the trip.

How tile size and pattern change the price

Large-format tiles, 60 by 60 centimetres or bigger, need a dead-flat substrate and careful handling, but there are fewer of them to lay and fewer grout lines, so labour per square metre is often lower than with small tiles once the substrate is sorted. Small mosaic or metro tiles take considerably longer per square metre because there is more cutting, more spacing, and more grout to finish.

Pattern adds time regardless of tile size. A herringbone or brick-bond layout, a feature strip, or tile laid diagonally all mean more cutting, more planning of the layout before adhesive goes down, and more waste. Expect a noticeable jump in labour hours over a straight grid layout in the same tile.

Corners, niches, window reveals and around fittings such as the toilet and the shower mixer all take disproportionate time relative to the area they cover. A bathroom with a lot of these features costs more to tile than a plain rectangular room of the same size.

Is waterproofing membrane included in the price

Waterproofing membrane under the tile, on the floor and up the walls around the shower and bath, is standard practice in a wet room in Estonia and is usually quoted as part of the tiling job rather than as an optional extra. It typically adds one full working day to the job, since the membrane needs to cure before tiling begins.

If your bathroom already has a membrane in good condition from a previous renovation and you are only replacing the tile, this step can sometimes be skipped, which is one of the reasons two quotes for the same room can differ.

A quote that has no line for waterproofing at all is worth asking about directly rather than assuming it is included: it is one of the parts of a bathroom job where cutting corners causes problems years later, well outside anything a guarantee on the visible tiling would cover.

What is included in the price and what costs extra

A tiling quote normally covers surface preparation, waterproofing membrane where relevant, setting out the layout, cutting and laying the tile, and grouting and sealing. Our tiling work starts from 35 € for smaller jobs, with larger bathroom tiling priced as a fixed quote once we have seen the room or photos of it.

Tiles, adhesive, grout, membrane, and trim strips are either bought by you or bought by us with a 10 % handling fee added to the receipt. Buying your own tiles is worth doing if you want a specific supplier or a tile that needs to be ordered in, since that removes any timing pressure from our side.

Extra costs to expect on top of a plain tiling quote: substrate repair if the floor or walls turn out uneven once old tile is off, disposal of rubble, and any plumbing or electrical work needed to move a drain, a shower mixer, or a socket before tiling starts. If you are tiling as part of a full refit rather than tiling alone, a complete bathroom renovation is priced from 3500 € as a fixed job.

How to get a quote that holds

A quote given without seeing the room is a rough guide at best. To get a figure you can rely on, send photos of the bathroom as it is now, including the floor, all four walls, and any fittings that will stay in place, along with the room's measurements.

Mention whether old tile needs removing, whether you already have tiles chosen or want a recommendation, and roughly what layout you have in mind. If waterproofing was done recently and is in good condition, say so, since it can change the quote.

A fixed quote for the tiling itself is valid for 30 days once given, so there is no rush to decide on the spot. If you would rather have someone look at the room in person first, a call-out in Tallinn is 25 €, deducted from the bill if the work goes ahead.

• Photos of the floor, each wall, and existing fittings
• Room measurements, including ceiling height if tiling to the top
• Whether old tile needs to be removed first
• Tile size and pattern, or a request for a recommendation
• Condition of any existing waterproofing membrane
• Any changes needed to plumbing or electrical points before tiling