Custom Tile Showers in Savannah: What to Know Before You Remodel

A custom tile shower is one of the best upgrades you can make to a Savannah home. It is also one of the easiest to get wrong, because almost everything that matters happens behind the tile, where you cannot see it. A shower that looks stunning and leaks into the wall is a failed shower. So before you fall in love with a tile, here is what actually goes into building a custom tile shower that lasts in our coastal climate.

Waterproofing comes first, and it matters more here

Tile and grout are not waterproof. Water passes through grout joints over time, so a real shower relies on a waterproofing layer behind the tile to catch that moisture and send it to the drain. In a humid place like Savannah, that layer is not a nice-to-have. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, and warns that sustained levels above roughly 70% invite mold. Our outdoor air sits well above that for months, so a shower wall that traps moisture is a mold problem waiting to start.

We waterproof with proven systems — a bonded sheet membrane like Schluter KERDI or a liquid-applied membrane that meets the ANSI A118.10 waterproofing standard. The tile you see is the finish. The membrane you do not see is what keeps the wall dry.

The pan and the slope

Underneath, the shower floor has to be sloped so water runs to the drain instead of pooling. Plumbing code calls for a minimum slope of about a quarter inch per foot toward the drain. We float and slope the pan by hand over a waterproofed base, then tile on top of a surface that already drains correctly. Get the pan wrong and no amount of pretty tile saves it.

Choosing tile for a humid coastal bathroom

Once the shower is built right, the tile is the fun part. The two main roads are porcelain and natural stone, and humidity is a real factor in the choice.

• Porcelain absorbs 0.5% water or less by the ANSI standard. It shrugs off humidity, needs no sealing, and comes in large-format and marble-look options that look high-end for less money.
• Natural stone like marble is beautiful and timeless, but it is porous. It has to be sealed and maintained, especially in a wet, humid room. We install it happily — you just want to go in knowing the upkeep.
• Accents — niches, benches, glass-mosaic bands, pebble floors — are where a custom shower stops looking builder-grade. They also add labor, so they factor into cost and timeline.

What a custom tile shower costs in Savannah

Cost is the question everyone wants answered, so here are honest ranges. Nationally, a custom tile walk-in shower typically runs about $8,000 to $15,000, and a high-end custom build can reach $20,000 or more. A walk-in shower averages around $12,000 across a wide range. Savannah pricing tends to run a little under national averages.

What moves the number is scope: the size of the shower, the tile you pick, how many niches and benches and custom features you want, and whether we find any surprises once the old shower comes out. We give you a written estimate after seeing the space, so you are not guessing from a national chart.

How long it takes

A standard custom tile shower is usually about two to five days of on-site work, plus cure time you cannot rush. Thin-set generally needs 24–48 hours before we grout, and grout and silicone need their own time to set before the shower gets used. Add natural stone, intricate patterns, or a full bathroom remodel around the shower and the project stretches to one to three weeks. Done right is always worth a few extra days.

The bottom line

A custom tile shower is built from the membrane out, not the tile in. Waterproof it properly, slope the pan correctly, pick tile that suits our humidity, and you get a shower that looks incredible and stays dry behind the walls for decades. That is the standard we hold on every shower we build across the Savannah area.

See more of our custom tile and shower work, or if a bigger project is on your mind, read our Savannah kitchen and bath remodel cost guide.