The cheapest shower is the one you only pay for once.
What hides behind an old shower, why most of them fail, and the five things we do on every job so yours doesn't.
Our system
Five things that happen on every CertiPro shower
Factory-sloped pan
On tile showers, a Schluter Kerdi pre-sloped tray bonded to a Kerdi drain. The slope is engineered, not floated by hand. On composite showers, a molded foam-reinforced acrylic base. We don't build mud-bed concrete pans.
Continuous waterproofing
Schluter Kerdi-Board on the walls, Kerdi membrane over the pan, every seam, corner, niche, and bench banded and sealed with Schluter components. Water that gets past the tile still can't get past the membrane.
Supply-house Delta
Delta valves, trim, and handhelds, bought from the plumbing supply house so the exact cartridge stays a stocked part for the life of the shower. Delta's limited lifetime warranty on parts and finish for the original owner.
Tested before it's closed
Licensed plumber on the rough-in. Pressure and leak test with the walls open, documented, before a single panel or tile goes on. If something's wrong, we find it on day two, not year two.
Two warranties, in writing
The manufacturer's product warranty, plus CertiPro's own written workmanship warranty, from a company that's been in White Settlement since 2019 and answers the phone.
Behind the wall
What a slow leak does, out of sight
Grout is porous. It can saturate in minutes. Tile and grout are the finish on a shower, not the waterproofing, and a shower with no real membrane behind it has been quietly feeding water into the wall since the day it was built.
Signs you may already have one: a musty smell, drywall that's soft or stained below the shower, bubbling paint on the other side of the wall, a floor that gives a little at the threshold, loose tile or cracked grout at the corners. The damage is usually several feet from the visible stain.
In Texas, damp framing has one more consequence: subterranean termites need moisture, and a leaking shower is a standing invitation. Fixing the leak doesn't treat an infestation. We find out how far it went at tear-out, and we show you before we close it up.
The greenboard myth
Greenboard is drywall with a green, water-resistant paper face. It handles bathroom humidity. It does not handle a shower. It's water-resistant, not waterproof, and mold-resistant, not mold-proof, and it's not an approved tile backer in a wet area. When greenboard fails you'll see swelling, crumbling, tile letting go, and mold on the cavity side.
If a quote says "greenboard" or "moisture-resistant drywall" behind your tile, that's your answer about the rest of the quote.
What goes behind the finish
Backer board, compared
| Board | What it is | Waterproof at the board? | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenboard | Water-resistant gypsum drywall | No | Never behind a shower |
| Cement board | Cement and fiber panel | No. Doesn't rot, but water passes through | Fine, with a full membrane over it |
| Glass-mat gypsum | Gypsum core, fiberglass face | No | Only in approved assemblies with a membrane |
| Schluter Kerdi-Board | Waterproof foam panel | Yes, when seams are sealed with the system | Our standard. Light, flat, waterproof |
Spotting a bad quote
Five tells of a shower that'll leak
"We'll float the pan"
A hand-built mortar bed with a liner. Performance depends entirely on one person's slope on one afternoon.
Greenboard behind tile
See above. There's no version of this that's okay.
Walls set the same day as plumbing
Means nothing was pressure-tested. Leaks get found by your ceiling.
Grout alone at corners and benches
Changes of plane move. They need sealant or system banding, not grout.
No workmanship warranty
Only the manufacturer's. The install is where showers fail, and nobody's standing behind it.
Sources
Guidance summarized from the Tile Council of North America Handbook; Schluter Systems installation and warranty documentation; U.S. EPA mold and moisture guidance; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension on subterranean termites; Delta Faucet warranty terms. Manufacturer instructions and local code govern every installation. This page is general education, not a diagnosis of any specific home.
Want it built this way?
Free in-home estimate. We'll look at what's there now, tell you what we'd find at tear-out, and put the whole build in writing.
Request a free in-home estimateOr call or text 214-974-8375 · Financing from about $200/month on approved credit