Our tile guy said to not use anything but water to clean the tiled areas until the grout was sealed, because chemicals in various cleaners can permanently discolor the grout. Is there any truth to this? I'd swear I answered this, but I guess not! It sucks getting old! Your installer is right in that many CAN hurt the grout color. He's also right in that water should be all you NEED to clean it. But if you DO need something more than water, mix up some Oxyclean. It'll do just as good a job as chlorine bleach without hurting the grout the way bleach will. Does tumbled marble tile need to be sealed? We have tumbled marble 3x6 subways for a border and accent tiles in the master shower and tub deck, and 1x2 mesh on the shower floor. Our kitchen backsplash is also tumbled marble. If we should seal that, what is a good brand and what method is best to apply it? Although I don't believe in sealing grout, I DO believe in sealing stone. Two good recommendations would be Miracle 511 Impregnator, and Stone Tech Impregnator Pro. Both would be applied in the same manor-- take an old terrycloth towel, and rip it in half. Use one as the applicator, and the other, to wipe off the excess. Take the applicator, and wipe a liberal amount of sealer on, let it set for about 5 minutes or so, and then take the dry half and buff off the excess. Done. I just had my new bathroom tiled and my contractor (NYC area) did not recommend it. His bathroom and kitchen are not sealed. I think (but am not positive) that he also said that sealing was another way to make money and that once sealing is done it has to be done again in the future. With respect to sealing the grout, I agree with him 100%, including the part about it being a racket.

Now I'm more confused than ever. Do you mean that if it was sealed before it shouldn't be done again until the old sealer is removed? What happens if you reseal something that has been sealed with a different product? Do you spray acetone on, wipe it on? I'm not a technical person at all and I have tried to read the websites on caring for stone and I am really totally learning disable on these types of subjects because I can't follow at at what they are trying to say. Anything you can do to help me understand this will be greatly appreciated.

Let me put it this way. I've heard some real horror stories in here from people who haven't sealed their marble. But I also had a marble master bath for years. It never got sealed, and was none the worse for wear. Especially being that this is a powder room, it's not going to see as much use as a normal bathroom would, especially with respect to chemicals, such as make up, soaps, dyes, perfumes, etc.. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.

Stonegirl, I'm glad this question popped back to page one as I missed it when you replied. Nothing has been done yet on our stone as we've been waiting for all of the other subs to finish punch list items so the stone wouldn't have anymore contractors dragging ladders, dirt and who knows what else over my floors. I really appreciate the advice and I'm going to push DH to get a second opinion. We both want to get this over with so we're just tempted to jump in and have the work done. Right now I'm not sure if I'm communicating what he said properly. He uses Stonecare Pro Signature products and he said he would use some type of machine with water that would not create any dust when he does the floors. The limestone floors look really awful but the countertops look fine. It is only on close inspection that scratches are visible around sinks and faucets where the surface no longer has a polished appearance due to something heavy scraping across them. I really don't want to have the granite and marble counters polished in place because I figure I'll wait for that until I've really messed things up a few years done the line. I was just thinking that if the polished surface is gone then the fabricator's sealing has also been compromised. Since the price quoted for this work was so low at first I thought go for it. But, oddly enough one of the things that is scaring me the more I think about it is the $.75/sf cost because it seems so low. The countertops actually don't look bad but I don't want to leave them unprotected. Hope this makes sense.