Please reach us at ModernRoomRemodels@gmail.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
We provide tile installation services to clients in North & Central New Jersey - Morris County, Passaic County, Bergen County, Essex County, Somerset County, Union County & most of Monmouth, Ocean & Middlesex County
At Modern Room we specialize in the following:
In New Jersey, anyone can pull a general contractor's license and start remodeling bathrooms — no knowledge testing, no apprenticeship, no certification required to build a walk-in shower. Yet your shower wall sees more water each year than Seattle, the rainiest city in America. Would you trust a painter, roofer, or jack-of-all-trades with the science of waterproofing, curbless showers, and steam showers on a project costing tens of thousands of dollars?
Tile has changed more in the last 10 years than the previous 30 — large-format porcelain slabs, gauged panels, and glass demand current training, not just years on the job. Joe at Modern Room Remodels holds Certified Tile Installer #1498 and Advanced Certification for Tile Installers #45, is a Forensic Tile Inspector, carries annual manufacturer product certifications, is a certified installer for multiple radiant floor heating brands, and is recommended by local tile stores and porcelain slab manufacturers alike.
When you hire Modern Room Remodels, you're hiring a verified expert — not a license.
Yes — CTI #1498, ACT #45 - Designated The Ceramic Tile Education Foundation (CTEF) provides education and installer certification for professionals working in the ceramic tile and stone industry.
Yes — large-format slab installation is our specialty, with over 12 years of dedicated experience in this highly specialized trade. Joe holds the Advanced Certification for Tile Installers (ACT #45) for gauged porcelain panels and is one of a select group of installers certified by Sicis for their Vetrite glass art slabs.
We're accredited installers for the industry's leading slab manufacturers, including Neolith Classtone, Porcelanosa Xlight, Cosentino Dekton, Laminam, Iris FMG Marmi Maxfine, Fiandre Maximum, Florim Magnum, Level by EmilGroup, StonePeak, Infinity Surfaces, MSI Stile, and Marazzi/Daltile Panoramic — plus natural marble and granite slab installations. From bookmatched shower walls to fireplace surrounds and feature walls, slabs are not a job for a general tile setter: they demand certified handling, substrate prep, and seaming techniques we've refined over hundreds of installations.
Fabricators are countertop experts — cutting and polishing slabs for horizontal surfaces. But a wall is not a countertop. Fabricators typically attach wall slabs the way they set counters: spot bonding with dabs of epoxy, adhesive, or liquid nails. That is not a TCNA-approved method for wet areas or vertical installations. ANSI A108.5 requires at least 95% mortar contact in wet areas, and ANSI A108.19 governs gauged porcelain panel installation. Spot-bonded slabs hide hollow voids that trap moisture — leading to mold growth, cracked slabs, and delamination, a serious hazard when heavy stone hangs over a fireplace or shower wall.
Wall slab installation is a tile-setting trade, and we're certified for it: CTI #1498, ACT #45 for gauged porcelain panels, with full waterproofing, walls leveled to slab-ready tolerances, and 100% coverage bonding on every install. Fabricators make beautiful countertops. For your walls, hire a certified slab installer.
Yes — partnerships are key to a successful end product, and so is staying in your lane. We regularly team up with stone fabricators who cut and edge the slabs while we handle the certified wall installation; with interior designers and architects to bring detailed renderings to reality, from bookmatched porcelain panels to Sicis Vetrite glass art; and with builders and general contractors who want a certified tile specialist on the trades they shouldn't be improvising. Each expert doing what they do best is how five-figure projects come out flawless. If you're a designer, fabricator, or builder with a project that demands certified slab and tile work, we'd love to collaborate — and we're happy to consult during the design phase, before material is ever ordered.
Yes — estimates are free. At the consultation we measure your space, discuss your vision and materials (we can point you to the best local tile showrooms and slab yards we work with daily), and identify any hidden conditions — out-of-level walls, plumbing relocations, subfloor issues — before they become surprises. You'll receive a detailed written estimate, not a number scribbled on a card. For designer or architect-led projects, we're happy to consult during the design phase, before material is ever ordered. Call 1-800-600-1387 or use the contact form to schedule.
Yes — Modern Room Remodels is a registered New Jersey Home Improvement Contractor HIC #13VH08337000 and fully insured & bonded But here's what matters more: in New Jersey, registration requires no exam, no apprenticeship, and no proof of tile knowledge — anyone can get one. That's why we go far beyond the state minimum with credentials that must be earned by testing: Certified Tile Installer #1498 and Advanced Certification for Tile Installers #45 (CTEF/NTCA), plus annual manufacturer certifications. We clear the legal bar and the expertise bar. Ask any contractor you interview for both.
Yes. Our installations follow TCNA methods and ANSI standards — full-coverage bonding, certified waterproofing systems (Wedi, Schluter), proper movement joints — which is why we stand behind our work with a [X-year] workmanship warranty. Many of the waterproofing and installation systems we're certified on carry extended manufacturer warranties [up to lifetime coverage on some Wedi/Schluter assemblies] that are only valid when installed by a certified installer — one more reason certification matters. Tile installed correctly should outlast the house's next two owners; that's the standard we build to.
Every bathroom is different, but honest ranges help you plan. In North Jersey, a quality tub-to-shower conversion with certified waterproofing and porcelain tile typically runs [$15,000–$25,000]. A full bathroom remodel runs [$25,000–$50,000], and a luxury bathroom with bookmatched porcelain slab walls, curbless entry, or steam typically starts at [$50,000+]. Material choice drives much of the range — a Neolith slab wall costs more than subway tile, and both deserve certified installation. We provide detailed written estimates so you know exactly where every dollar goes. Beware of quotes dramatically below these ranges: waterproofing and proper substrate prep are usually what got cut.
A typical full bathroom remodel takes [4–8 weeks] from demolition to final grout seal, depending on scope. A tub-to-shower conversion runs [2–3 weeks]; a porcelain slab or steam shower project can take longer due to material lead times and template work. Two promises: we don't start your job until materials are in hand, and once we start, we work your project continuously — no disappearing for a week to juggle other jobs. Proper cure times for waterproofing and mortar are built into the schedule; rushing them is how other contractors' showers end up leaking.
Yes. Joe is a certified Forensic Tile Inspector — trained to determine why tile fails, not just that it did. And the demand is telling: we inspect 3–7 failed showers and tile installations across North NJ every month, and the same story repeats — cracked tile, hollow-sounding spots, crumbling grout, leaks into the room below, mold creeping from the shower base. Those are symptoms; the cause is almost always hidden behind the tile — spot bonding, missing waterproofing, wrong mortar, no movement joints. We know vetting a shower contractor is scary as a consumer — the failures we inspect were all installed by someone who seemed qualified. We identify the failure mechanism, give you an honest answer about whether it's repairable or needs rebuilding, and if you're in a dispute with a contractor, a documented forensic assessment tells you exactly where you stand.
Yes — radiant floor heating is the upgrade our clients say they'd never give up, and it's best added during a remodel when the floor is already open. We're certified installers for four leading systems: Nuheat, WarmUp, Schluter Ditra-Heat, and SunTouch by Watts. Certification matters here: an improperly embedded heating cable can create hollow spots that crack tile, and a damaged cable under finished tile is expensive to fix. Typical cost to add radiant heat to a bathroom floor during a remodel is [$1,500–$3,500] depending on size and system. Programmable thermostats mean warm tile on winter mornings without heating the floor all day.
Yes — steam showers are one of the most demanding installations in the trade, and one of our specialties. A steam shower is essentially a sauna that gets hit with water: it requires a fully vapor-sealed enclosure, sloped ceiling, properly sized steam generator, and waterproofing built for continuous vapor pressure — not just splash. An ordinary shower build with a steam unit added will fail, usually inside the walls where you can't see it until mold appears. We build steam enclosures to TCNA steam room methods using Wedi and Schluter systems we're certified on.
A curbless (zero-entry) shower has no step or threshold — the bathroom floor flows directly into the shower. It's the signature look of modern luxury bathrooms and the safest option for aging-in-place and ADA accessibility. Building one correctly is structural work: the shower floor must be recessed or the pan built up so water slopes to a linear drain without a curb to contain mistakes. That demands precise substrate work and flawless waterproofing — there is no margin for error. Most existing North NJ bathrooms can be converted; joist direction and drain location determine the approach. We build curbless showers with channel linear drains as one of our core specialties. Don't forget to ask about Capillary Action! Yea, we mitigate that risk too!
Porcelain is low-maintenance: pH-neutral cleaner and water — never wax, oil soaps, or abrasive pads. Natural stone (marble, granite, travertine) needs more care: it must be sealed periodically, and acidic cleaners (vinegar, lemon, many bathroom sprays) will etch marble permanently. Grout is the maintenance point in any installation — sealed grout resists staining, and caulked movement joints should be inspected yearly. We also offer professional maintenance cleaning services to restore tile, stone, and grout — see our Maintenance Cleaning page. The best maintenance is a correct installation: full-coverage bonding leaves no hollow voids for water to collect behind your tile.
Both are stunning; but it all comes down to budget! They differ in maintenance and cost of ownership. Natural marble is unique stone with unmatched depth — but in a shower it must be sealed regularly, can etch from soaps and hard water, and some varieties can spall or discolor with constant moisture. Large-format porcelain slabs (Neolith, Dekton, Laminam, FMG Marmi) replicate marble — including bookmatched veining — with near-zero porosity: no sealing, no etching, no staining, and fewer grout lines. For high-use showers we usually recommend porcelain slab for durability; for a powder room or fireplace, real marble's character is hard to beat. We install both, and we'll show you slabs side by side before you decide.
Yes — kitchen backsplashes, fireplace surrounds, powder room floors, and laundry rooms are welcome projects, and they get the same certified installation as a $50,000 bathroom. A backsplash is also the perfect way to experience how we work before trusting us with a full remodel, many of our bathroom clients started with a backsplash. The one thing we don't do is rush: even a one-day backsplash gets proper substrate prep, layout planning (especially for glass, mosaics, and natural stone), and clean silicone joints where tile meets counter.