A bathroom job, day by day
Four days, two of which the bathroom is out of service. Here's exactly what happens, so you can plan around it.
The practical question that follows price is always: how long, and can I stay in the house? Here's the real sequence for a full bathroom — floor and shower walls — so you can organise the week instead of discovering it as it goes.
Before day 1: the site visit
It happens before anything is confirmed, and it's where the only real unknowns get settled. We sound the tile for debonded pieces, measure how far off level the floor is, test for moisture if it's a basement, and check the state of the shower joints. Anything that needs adding to the quote comes out here, not mid-job.
Day 1 — preparation
The least impressive day and the one that decides the outcome. We protect the room and the route to the door, degrease the tile thoroughly — oil and soap residue are the leading cause of debonding — re-bond hollow tiles, fill the grout lines, then apply the bonding primer. Nothing visible has changed by the end of the day, and that's normal. The bathroom is still usable that evening.
Day 2 — base coats
Two base coats, trowel-applied, with the necessary cure time between them. This is where the surface becomes continuous and the grout lines disappear for good. From the end of day 2 the room is out of service: you don't walk on a fresh base coat.
Day 3 — finish coats and sanding
Two finish coats, thinner, which deliver the chosen finish — this is the day Clouded becomes clouded and Marbled becomes marbled. Each coat is sanded. Sanding produces a fine dust; we work with extraction at the source, but it's the day we suggest not setting up in the next room. The bathroom is still out of service.
Day 4 — sealer
Two to three coats of sealer, which is the surface's actual protection. The work is finished by end of day, but the sealer keeps curing after we leave.
What extends the schedule
- Self-levelling underlayment, if the floor is off level: one more day, and it has to dry fully.
- A moisture barrier on a basement slab: one more day.
- Ambient humidity. In a Montreal July without air conditioning, coats cure more slowly. We plan around it rather than forcing it.
- A condo building: service elevator booking often imposes time windows, which can stretch the job across five calendar days without adding any work.
Can you stay in the house?
Yes, in the large majority of cases. The products we use are low-odour, which matters in a plex where you share the stairwell. The real constraint isn't smell but access: if it's your only bathroom, plan two days elsewhere. We can also sequence the work — floor first, shower after — to keep the room partly usable, which adds a day but solves the problem.