First off, it doesn't matter if some sealer gets in the joints or not. Even with the sealer-- you let the grout stay on the tile long enough to dry nice and hard, it's not coming off without a fight. Same in the grout joint. Now, as for whether they should or shouldn't seal, leave it up to your installer. Just make him aware that however he decides to do it, you expect the stone to be impeccably clean when he's done. The reason I say this is because some installers, including myself, prefer to grout the stone raw, while others rather seal it first. There are very few surfaces I'll seal first, and I have a real problem with customers telling me I HAVE to seal a surface before I grout. I just went through this with a general contractor I do alot of business with. We tiled his own house under construction, and his master shower was chiarro tumbled marble (looks like swiss cheese), and I refused to seal it first. In fact it won't be sealed until this friday. He wasn't disappointed. Like I said, let them know your expectations, and that they'll only be paid once those expectations are met, and let them take it from there.

The only ones I've had an issue with were Marazzi, and that was from several years ago but over a period of several years, and Florida Tile, which was from awhile ago too. I can't recall having touched Florida Tile since. Marazzi, I think they have gotten better. The issue with them back in the day was the tiles were just so varied in size. Open a box, stand the tiles on edge (like a deck of cards on edge) and it shows how out of square and varied in size they are across each dimension. I can't say the last time I used Marazzi...maybe last year in 2010? But they were pretty much standard then, I had no out of the ordinary issues. Some tile is only rated for wall use, some wall and floor rated. If the tile has a "glaze pattern", some are applied with screens, like silk screens. Look closely and you can see the screen grid within the glaze. Also, ask how often the pattern repeats in a box. A manufacturer might only have 7 patterns or 15 patterns. In a large room using a tile with a low number of patterns, the repetitive pattern could be apparent after the tiles are set. Through-body versus a surface glaze could be a consideration regarding cut edges. For the most part though, porcelain is porcelain. 2" and 3" squares will both conform to the pitch changes in the shower floor. Most shower drain covers are 4" squares, which nests nicely within a field of 2" tiles. 2" tiles will also give more grout lines, which can aid in foot traction and minimize slips in the shower. There are myriad ways to do a sink backsplash, there's no hard right or wrong. But sure, a tiled wainscot can look lovely, especially with a pedestal sink that shows off more of the wall. If you go that route, take the added wall thickness into consideration when positioning the toilet flange in the floor.

Joe, do you need a tub? Or would a walk-in or roll-in shower work best? I'm in agreement with wisco-girl. I just did a shower for an MS customer about 3 months ago. A couple of items while I await your response, and these are geared towards a fully accessible roll-in shower: 1) Use a movable seat instead of a built-in bench inside the shower. 2) Grab bar guidance can be found on ADA sites. You can shuffle the locations slightly depending on your shower configuration and your wife's abilities, but their recommended locations are pretty good. 3) For the shower head, have a hand-held unit on a bar. Most bars are not certified for grab bar use, but there are units that are. I used an Alsons ADA handheld. Looks nice, and the vertical bar is an actual grab bar and the height adjustment is an easily manipulated lever. Use the longest hose you can find. 4) If the grab bars will not be screwed directly into a wall stud or solid 2-by blocking installed between the studs, I prefer to use "Wing-It" anchors. I can do chin-ups on those things. Kerdi? From the studs to tile, you're looking at: a) drywall or cement board, the seams between panels do not have to be thinsetted or taped. I personally prefer cement board (wonderboard or durock) but you can use regular old drywall. If using drywall I recommend 5/8" drywall. b) thinset and Kerdi over the drywall or cement board c) thinset and tile over the Kerdi d) grout With accessible showers, I recommend a deck mud base versus the Kerdi foam trays. You can use the foam tray, I simply find deck mud easier to shape to the shower sizes that I build. If a deck mud base, I staple plastic sheeting to the floor. Then set expanded metal lathe over the plastic and tack it in place, just enough so it doesn't flop around. Pack deck mud and set the drain, with the proper slope (1/4" per foot usually) from the walls to the drain. Once the deck mud has cured, Kerdi over it, then tile. If using a Kerdi Foam tray, thinset the tray to the floor, then kerdi over the tray. Easy. Here's a Kerdi thread from a few years ago. This is Kerdi over cement board on the walls, and Kerdi over sloped deck mud on the floor. Might not be the same methods you chose to use, but it shows a few techniques. Lastly, the curb. you need 2" of vertical drop from the top of the curb to the shower drain. Floor pitch needs to be between 1/4" per foot and 1/2" per foot. You can usually get an inch or so simply from the sloped shower floor. So you may still need an inch or so of elevation at the shower threshold. You can do a standard curb with square edges, or a roll-over hump. The hump is sort of like a speedbump. An inch or so of vertical over several inches of horizontal, gentle enough to roll over in a wheelchair is need be. There are also flexible "pop-up" curbs that can be glued to the tile at the threshold. They stick up a couple of inches, and being made out of flexible material they can be rolled right over. I'm not sure of their durability. Anyhow Joe, more than you asked for. And you thought YOUR post was long. lol Oh, and for grab bars, etc, look at a website called "grab bar specialists."

numbers... we have a chipper tool with an attachment that is specifically used to chip tile. Professional tile installers use a VERY heavy duty one. Ours was heavy but not quite as heavy as the biggest pro models. It's a bear of a job. Just dusty, heavy, time consuming, and allow me to say dusty again. You will need two people. One for cleaning up the debris and the one using the tool. It took us several days to do about 1000 sq. ft. In the beginning , DH had to do the work alone because I was at work. THat meant stopping every 15 minutes to clean up the broken tile in the way. You'll also need a way/place/trash to dump the debris and get it taken away. It gets very heavy very fast. The tile we removed was at least 20 years old if not older. They are right... it's a huge amount of work. But it's doable, if you have help and just give yourself the time to do it. We are lucky in that we don't have to live there while the job is being done.