Tile installation · Palm City, FL
Tile installation in Palm City, FL, past the original tile.
Floors, showers and backsplashes for Palm City homes, from Martin Downs to Harbour Ridge. Porcelain, natural stone and mosaic, laid out before the first cut and set by a company that does tile every day.
- Shower walls & floors
- Backsplashes
- Accent walls
- Large-format & patterns
- Travertine
- Graphite porcelain
- Marble-look porcelain
- Onyx-look
- Herringbone wood-look
- Granite & quartz
The short answer
Who installs tile in Palm City, FL?
Top Design Tile installs tile floors, shower walls and backsplashes in Palm City, FL, from Martin Downs and Piper's Landing to Monarch and Cobblestone. Tile is our specialty, so the old floor comes up, the slab gets checked flat and the layout is planned before the first cut. New floor tile needs no Martin County permit; a rebuilt shower does, and we pull it.
Updated October 27, 2026 · By Top Design Tile, Port St. Lucie
Sound familiar?
- Our floor tile is original to the house, and it shows.
- We have tile, carpet and laminate, all in different rooms.
- Do we need a permit, or the HOA's sign-off, just to retile?
- The shower tile is fine, but the grout is dark and cracking.
- We back up to the river. Is tile still the right floor?
Palm City, Martin County
Golf homes, thirty-year-old floors.
Most of Palm City's club communities went up between the mid-1970s and the 2000s: Martin Downs from 1976, Piper's Landing and Harbour Ridge in the 1980s, Monarch through the 1990s. Plenty of those homes still have the floor tile they were built with.
Pulling it up is the loud, dusty part. We plan it to happen once, room by room, with the slab checked for flatness before any new tile goes down.
Old Palm City, near the river, is the older core and one of Martin County's six community redevelopment areas. West of it, gated golf and country club communities fill most of the map, with single-family homes, villas and some condos. Hammock Creek, for example, was built by Lennar between 1997 and 2004.
How we do it in Palm City
Tile installation in Palm City, step by step.
See what's under the old tile
Older Palm City floors can be set in a thick mortar bed or glued to a slab that has shifted a little over the decades. We look at the estimate, so the prep is in the price instead of a surprise on day two.
Flatten before large tiles
Large-format porcelain shows every dip as a raised edge. High spots get ground down, low spots get filled, and a straightedge decides when the slab is ready.
One floor through the house
Kitchen, great room and halls in a single tile, run without a break at the doorways. It goes in by sections, so part of the house stays livable while the rest is tiled.
Showers rebuilt to the framing
A shower redo comes down to the studs for new waterproofing before any tile goes up, with the Martin County permit and inspections built into the schedule.
Gate and hours arranged
An HOA can't block interior work nobody sees from outside, but it still runs the gate and sets the hours. We get on the list and work inside them.
The work
What it looks like.
Layout
The cuts are planned before the first one.
- Dry layout before setting
- Centered patterns, cuts in the corners
- Veining matched across large tiles
Patterns & accents
Herringbone, hex, and the bold ones.
- Herringbone and chevron
- Hexagon and mosaic
- Geometric and 3D accent walls
Florida conditions
Built for the humidity it lives in.
- Flat substrate before large tiles
- Grout chosen for the room
- Movement joints where slabs need them
Before you call
Tile installation in Palm City: the details.
Do you need a permit for new tile in Palm City?
Palm City is unincorporated, so Martin County is your building department, and its permit guide is specific. Flooring and cabinetry are on the list of work that needs no permit, so replacing floor tile room by room is permit-free. Kitchen and bathroom remodels are not, and neither is replacing a shower or tub enclosure.
That's the line most Palm City tile jobs sit on. New tile through the living areas: no permit. A rebuilt shower with a new pan, new waterproofing and a moved valve: permit, with inspections before the walls close.
The HOA is a separate question. Since 2024, Florida law has kept homeowners' associations from limiting interior changes that can't be seen from outside. Condos run under a different chapter of state law, so there the declaration still decides what the board can require.
Tile near the South Fork: the flood-safe floor
Lots along the South Fork of the St. Lucie River and its creeks can sit in FEMA flood zones. FEMA's Technical Bulletin 2, updated in January 2025, rates ceramic and porcelain tile set in mortar as an acceptable flood-damage-resistant floor, and rates every kind of wood flooring, engineered and laminate included, as unacceptable below the flood level.
In practice, a tiled ground floor near the water can be cleaned and dried after a storm instead of torn out. Wood-look porcelain plank gives you the look of wood with the same rating as tile.
One more check applies on big jobs: in a flood zone, work that costs 50% or more of the structure's value brings the whole house under current flood rules. A floor replacement rarely gets close, but a whole-house remodel can.
Replacing tile from the 1980s and '90s
The tile in an original Piper's Landing or Monarch home is often smaller ceramic laid in a grid, with wide grout lines that have darkened over the years. The usual replacement is larger porcelain, from 24 by 24 inches up to 24 by 48, with tight joints that read as one surface.
Bigger tile asks more of the slab. It has to be flat within tight tolerances, so the estimate includes a look at the floor once the old tile is up. Baseboards usually come off with the old floor, so new ones get planned in, and door clearances get checked against the new floor height.
Already bought your tile? We'll install it. Quantities and lot numbers get checked before anything is set, so a short order shows up early.
| Room | Porcelain tile | Engineered wood | Wood-look porcelain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground floor near the river | Rated flood-resistant by FEMA when set in mortar | Rated not flood-resistant by FEMA | Rated like tile, because it is tile |
| Kitchen and great room | Wears hard, cleans easily, cool underfoot | Warmer and quieter, needs a dry and flat slab | The look of wood with tile's tolerance for spills |
| Bathrooms and laundry | The standard choice for wet rooms | A poor fit where water lands | A good choice, with slip-rated finishes |
| By the lanai doors | A textured finish keeps wet feet steady | Not a fit for pool traffic | Works well in a textured finish |
Before you remodel
What to know in Palm City.
Permits
Martin County Building Department
Palm City is unincorporated, so permits come from Martin County, not the City of Stuart across the river. Applications go through the county's Accela Citizen Access portal or the permit counter.
Permit officePermits are county jurisdiction even though downtown Stuart is one bridge away.
Most of the gated communities run homeowners' associations. Since July 2024, Florida law bars an HOA from limiting interior changes that can't be seen from the street, a neighbor or the golf course.
Exterior changes, like a new window in a shower wall, still go through the HOA's architectural review.
Lots along the South Fork and its creeks can sit in FEMA flood zones, so large renovations should check the 50% substantial improvement rule first.
Reviews
Homeowners say it best.
Ryan ScrupskisGoogle review
- Kitchen
- Tile & floors
Junior DuranApril 10, 2026
- Bathroom
- Kitchen
- Tile & floors
Sandra GoldApril 17, 2026
- Bathroom
- Tile & floors
Ines OliveiraGoogle review
- Kitchen
- Tile & floors
Gonzalo CamporaGoogle review
- Tile & floors
How it works
You always know which step you’re on.
Consult
We walk the room with you, measure, and hear what isn’t working in it today.
Design & selections
Layout, tile, fixtures and finishes chosen together, with samples in your light and a price in writing before anything starts.
Schedule
A start date and the order of work, so you know which week the bathroom is out.
Build
Demo to grout. Each layer gets checked before the next one covers it.
Walkthrough
We walk it with you, grout line by grout line, before we call it done.
Do I need a permit to replace floor tile in Palm City?
No. Martin County lists flooring as work that needs no permit. Rebuilding a shower or replacing a tub or shower enclosure does need one.
Is tile a good floor for a home near the St. Lucie River?
Yes. FEMA rates ceramic and porcelain tile set in mortar as flood-damage resistant and rates wood flooring as not, so tile is the safer ground-floor choice near the water.
Can you install tile I already bought?
Yes. We check quantities and lot numbers before anything is set, so a short order or a mismatched batch turns up before installation instead of halfway through.
How far is Palm City from your office?
About 30 minutes south on I-95 or the Turnpike, roughly 18 miles from our St. Lucie West office.
Does my Palm City HOA have to approve a bathroom remodel?
Not for interior work nobody can see from outside. Florida Statute 720.3035 stops HOAs from limiting interior changes that aren't visible from the frontage, an adjacent lot, common area or golf course. Gate access, work hours and exterior changes are still the association's call.
Is Palm City part of Stuart for permits?
No. Palm City is unincorporated Martin County, so the Martin County Building Department handles permits and inspections.
How long does an HOA architectural review take if I change the exterior?
It depends on the association's documents and meeting schedule. Submit drawings and product details early so the review runs while the permit is being prepared.
Light, built in
The glow is part of the tile plan.
Lit niches, floating vanities with light underneath, mirrors that glow from behind. It shows up in our favorite rooms because it gets drawn into the tile layout, not added after the wall is done.
Details, close up
Arched niche, champagne-bronze fixtures
Floating walnut vanity, lit from below
A lit niche in a wood-look wet room
Herringbone marble-look floor
Waterfall island, mitered edge
Get your free estimate in Palm City.
A free in-home design consultation in Palm City, and a price in writing before anything starts.