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Schluter Kitchen Remodeling: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide
A full Schluter-spec kitchen remodel in Los Angeles typically runs $16,520 to $53,100 installed, and the number moves based on whether we’re rebuilding a galley kitchen in West Adams or a larger footprint in Sherman Oaks. We stock Schluter waterproofing, uncoupling membranes, edge profiles, and trim on our trucks, and we can usually start within a week of the written estimate. Here’s how most Los Angeles homeowners find us: the tile at the counter line starts cracking, the corner where the backsplash meets the counter shows water staining, or a strip of metal trim has pulled away from the wall. That’s the Schluter piece telling you the substrate or edge detail was never installed right in the first place.
Which Schluter Models This Applies To
If your kitchen has tile on the backsplash, floor, or a waterproofed island face, there’s a good chance the original installer used one of three Schluter systems: KERDI board or KERDI membrane behind the tile, DITRA or DITRA-HEAT under the floor, or a Schluter edge profile (SCHIENE, QUADEC, RONDEC, or JOLLY) at exposed tile edges. The compatibility gotcha we see regularly in Los Angeles: KERDI and DITRA are not interchangeable. KERDI is waterproofing for walls and wet zones. DITRA is an uncoupling and waterproofing layer for floors. If a previous contractor pitched one as a substitute for the other, the failure usually shows up within two to three years. When we assess a job, we look for the printed product code on any exposed membrane edge or leftover material, then match the repair to the original system rather than layering something new over a failed detail. Mason Remodeling Co Los Angeles is an independent contractor, not a Schluter distributor or affiliate, but we’ve worked with these systems long enough to know exactly what belongs where.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Schluter Kitchen Remodeling Is Failing
- Cracked grout or tile at the counter-to-backsplash line. This usually means the substrate beneath the tile is flexing, which points to a missing or incorrectly installed uncoupling layer under the floor or behind the wall.
- Water staining or darkened grout at the sink wall. If the KERDI membrane wasn’t lapped correctly at the seam with Schluter KERDI-BAND, water wicks through slowly over months and the wall board behind it starts to swell.
- A metal edge profile lifting from the tile corner. Schluter profiles are designed to be set in thin-set while the tile is installed. When they pull away, the original thin-set coverage was too light, or the profile was the wrong size for the tile thickness.
- Hollow-sounding spots on the kitchen floor tile. This is a classic DITRA installation problem: voids under the membrane from troweling errors. Los Angeles temperature swings between coastal fog and Valley heat make those voids work loose faster than in more stable climates.
- Soft or spongy tile near the dishwasher line. Water has gotten under the tile and the uncoupling layer isn’t doing its job. Once that happens, it’s a tear-out, not a patch.
See the difference
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After
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
Here’s the honest math for Los Angeles, because you should know before you call.
- Full Schluter-spec kitchen remodel: $16,520 – $53,100 depending on scope, cabinet grade, and whether plumbing or electrical moves.
- Backsplash replacement with proper KERDI waterproofing: $945 – $2,950 including tear-out, membrane, tile, and profile work.
- Kitchen floor DITRA uncoupling install plus tile: typically $2,360 – $7,670 for countertop-level projects, with the floor membrane portion usually a $1,200 – $2,500 line item within the larger job.
- Edge profile replacement only (minor repair): $300 – $700 when the surrounding tile is intact and we can reset a single profile strip.
Every price we give in Los Angeles is written. Before any work starts, you get a line-item quote that shows parts, labor, and the exact Schluter components we’re installing, so there’s no change order waiting at the end. The work is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if anything isn’t right within a year of completion, we return and fix it at no cost.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely do three things on your own: check for cracked grout, look for water staining around the sink line, and confirm whether any visible membrane edge has a printed product code you can tell us. What you shouldn’t do is peel back tile to inspect the waterproofing underneath. Once you open that layer, you’ve committed to a repair that involves matching thin-set, lapping KERDI-BAND at the right overlap, and letting it cure before tile goes back. Get it wrong and the next failure is worse than the first. Schluter work is not electrical, but it’s detail-critical. If you’re seeing any of the signs above, call us at (213) 632-5711 and we’ll come assess it properly.
FAQs
A correctly installed Schluter kitchen system should last 25 years or more, even in Los Angeles’s coastal moisture and inland heat cycles. The failures we see are almost always installation errors from the first job, not material breakdown.
If yours failed early, call (213) 632-5711 and we’ll tell you exactly what we think happened, free.
It depends on where the failure sits. A lifted edge profile is a fast, affordable fix. Water damage behind the sink wall or voids under floor tile usually mean tearing out the affected section and rebuilding it properly, and we’ll show you exactly why before any demo starts.
Call (213) 632-5711 for a written assessment.
A minor profile or backsplash repair is usually a one-day job. A full kitchen remodel with Schluter waterproofing, floor uncoupling, tile, and cabinets typically runs two to six weeks in Los Angeles depending on scope and material lead times.
We’ll give you a written schedule with the estimate. Call (213) 632-5711 to start.
We keep common KERDI membrane, KERDI-BAND, DITRA, and metal edge profiles on hand for Los Angeles jobs. For line items we don’t carry, our partnerships with KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone mean we source and order quickly without the homeowner chasing parts on their own.
Call (213) 632-5711 and we can usually confirm availability the same day.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co at Mason Remodeling Co Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles and nearby areas.
