IKO Bathroom Remodeling Nationwide

IKO Bathroom Remodeling: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide

IKO bathroom remodeling in Los Angeles typically runs $10,620 – $33,040, depending on whether you’re doing a full gut renovation or replacing a failed shower pan and surrounding tile assembly. We stock the common IKO-compatible waterproofing substrates, drain assemblies, and backer materials on our trucks, so most repair visits are one trip. Most Los Angeles homeowners discover an IKO-related bathroom failure the same way: water staining on the ceiling below, a soft spot in the subfloor near the toilet, or grout that stays dark and damp days after a shower. What starts as a hairline crack in a mortar bed or a failed membrane seal becomes a slow leak behind the wall, and by the time you see it, the substrate (the structural layer behind your tile) has usually been wicking moisture for months.

Call (936) 259-2607

Which IKO Models This Applies To

IKO manufactures a range of roofing and waterproofing products, but in bathroom remodeling the relevant line is their self-adhered waterproofing membranes and underlayments used under tile and shower pans. These come in roll form with peel-and-stick application, typically in 36-inch and 48-inch widths, so the first compatibility check is simple: measure the width of the membrane visible at your shower curb or pan edge. The older IKO ArmourGard and newer AquaBarrier series use different adhesive chemistry, and they’re not interchangeable in a repair without a primer coat between them. That’s a real compatibility gotcha we run into in Los Angeles homes from the 1990s and early 2000s, when IKO membrane products were widely used in tract housing across the Valley and South Bay. For most bathroom applications, a quality aftermarket membrane from a recognized trade brand performs just as well as the OEM IKO roll, but only if the overlap seams are done to the manufacturer’s spec, which is why we always pull the old membrane back far enough to confirm what we’re actually tying into. Penhallow Remodeling is an independent service provider and has no affiliation with IKO.

Signs Your IKO Bathroom Remodeling Is Failing

• Damp or musty smell that never fully clears even with the exhaust fan running. This usually means moisture is trapped in the wall cavity or under the pan, not just lingering surface humidity.
• Staining on the ceiling below the bathroom. Water has already breached the membrane or pan liner and is traveling along a joist. By the time you see a stain, the leak has been active for weeks.
• Grout or caulk that stays dark after a shower and stays dark for days. That’s saturated grout, not dried grout. The membrane behind it is no longer shedding water the way it should.
• Loose floor tile around the toilet flange or shower drain. The subfloor underneath is swelling or rotting, which means the waterproofing layer has failed at the most common failure point: the drain penetration.
• A shower pan that flexes slightly underfoot or creaks when you shift weight. The mortar bed has cracked or the substrate has softened. This is the structural warning sign we see most often in older Los Angeles bathroom remodels where the original IKO membrane was never sloped correctly.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

For IKO-related bathroom repairs and remodels in Los Angeles, you’re looking at $10,620 – $33,040. The low end covers a pan replacement with new membrane, drain assembly, and tile; the high end is a full bathroom gut with new waterproofing throughout, new fixtures, and finish materials. The biggest cost driver is how far the moisture has traveled. If the failure is caught at the drain penetration, we’re replacing a pan and a few feet of membrane. If the water has wicked up the studs and into the subfloor, we’re opening walls and replacing framing, which is where the price climbs quickly. Every job includes a written line-item price before we start, labor and materials separated, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the repair fails inside a year, we come back and fix it at no charge, with no service call fee and no re-inspection fee.

DIY or Call Us?

You can safely check a few things yourself: whether the shower floor flexes, whether grout stays dark, whether there’s staining on the ceiling below. But actually opening a shower pan or pulling membrane is not a weekend project. The waterproofing layer is only as good as its seams, and if you lap a membrane the wrong direction or scrimp on the primer coat, you’ve created a leak that’s worse than the one you were fixing, because now it’s hidden behind fresh tile. Water damage in a bathroom is slow and quiet until it’s not. If your floors feel soft or the pan flexes, stop using the shower and call (936) 259-2607. We’ll send a background-checked technician in a uniform, give you a written price before any work starts, and tell you exactly what we found. Give me the whole picture first, then we pick up the tools.

FAQs