Hollysprings, I just realized I forgot to crosspost to the Kitchen Forum. Thank goodness I got your post. I told the installer after 5 PM when he called on Saturday that he could start on Monday but now I am getting so nervous as I want a floor easy to keep clean. He says the Power Grout still stains and is not worth the cost and is more difficult to use. I did do some research on it and in 2010, many installers were having so many problems with the Power Grout coming out when showering and staining feet. Maybe it has been improved? The first installer wanted me to pick up the Power Grout myself making his price $700 more. Also I am looking over the other estimate I got a few hours earlier before this installer called and it says that this other installer would prime the floor and supply the primer before installing the tile so maybe that is why the estimate is $300 more. This other installer says I am to buy my own grout. I did not consider him as his reply on when I asked what the grout width would be was that it would not be more than 1/4". I want a think grout line. The other two installers told me they would try to get as thin of a grout line as they can ONCE they assess the situation after they remove the Linoleum floor and see how flat the surface is and how the tiles are when they are placed on the floor in the running bond position. Now I am getting confused as I did say he could start and I felt so comfortable with the installer but I wonder if my floor needs to have a primer on it and I wonder if the other guy could install the Epoxy grout also without charging me more than the $300 more IF I buy the grout which I know is expensive. He would have to tell me how much to buy. The guy that is coming on Monday is supplying the TEC grout with the job and was one of the installers given to me by the store. My Spectralock grout has never turned colors and the front foyer still looks almost new since installed at the end of December 2008. The middle foyer where I keep the puppy pads is staining from the pee from my little dogs and it is difficult to keep clean but never turns black like I see in so many houses with light grout.

Laurie, sorry for so many pictures but I downloaded the pictures from the camera and just had it download all to Photobucket and I was too tired to delete pictures. Next time I share, I will send in less so people will want to view. But I appreciate your nice comments. That is why I sent the way before picture to show that my kitchen is a big improvement from when I bought my home and the mini blinds broke from raising and lowering them. The wall color was also too white for the appliances back then. Since the wall color looks nice in the foyers with my other tile called Akoya Bone that is a little darker, I feel once the tiles are down, it will look nice also. I am not sure how the blinds go yet but I will worry about that next. But I really am liking the tiles and feel they will enhance my kitchen with that outdated in bad shape Linoleum floor gone. I also love that little table. I was dating a guy when I moved into my home and we were looking for a small kitchen table for my kitchen and he kept trying to push me to go with cheap tables at stores that I hated. He finally told me that the deal for the table that was too big for the kitchen was a great deal and he will take me to Ethan Allen to show me what expensive prices are like so I will see that the table and chairs he is showing me were a good deal. The minute I saw this table and chairs, I fell in love and despite how expensive the set was even with the great sale this store was having at the time. I bought all four chairs and the insert to enlarge the table. I am able to add two more chairs from other rooms if I have 6 people at the table with the insert in the middle of the table and it fits in the middle of the kitchen. But I am glad I can then make the table small again for room to walk and cook. The table is so well made and is solid wood with even the side rails for lowering the sides made of solid wood. I went back the next day to bring one of my drawers to see how it matched and bought it. I have always been happy with my decision. I always wished my cabinets were made out of the wood that the table is made out of. Not sure what it(forgot since I did not know much about wood almost 14 years ago but remember it being a nice wood and it was solid wood and not oak so I was happy it went with my cabinets despite not being the same wood). I love the Wheatback chairs so much. I am so glad I did not try to save money and get the table that did not match my cabinets and was too big for the kitchen. Some things are worth investing in. Like you invested in the cabinets and put other purchases on hold. I feel that was a wide decision. I also love your tile floors backsplash, wood floors and baseboard trim in the other room. Again, thank you for being there for me and making me not feel alone during my home renovations. I can't wait to post new pictures when the tile floor is down and then to work on other parts of my kitchen project.

Thank you all! Because we want a curbless shower, I have decided against a pre-cast shower pan. I considered trying to do something custom (corian maybe) for the shower area, but in addition to expense, that left the bathroom floor and the need for that transition from one material to the other to be waterproof as well. Which led me back to tile. And if I'm having tile for the bathroom floor, I've got the cleaning issue anyway and I might as well go with just one material to get the continuous look and save some money. I'd be willing to re-consider though if someone has information about making a pre-cast shower pan for a curbless shower work well with a non-tile bathroom floor. I'm definitely planning on somewhat dark grout. I'm figuring a medium grey tile and matching grout are going to hide dirt the best. But I also want it to be as easy to get really clean as possible when I do clean. Thanks for the information about ceramic tile working well for tight grout lines!

No, you can’t see if waterproofing is there without tearing things out and likely damaging the waterproofing. I will echo HB’s caution to not beat yourself up. It is easy to get into a heap of trouble when buying a house. We bought this one knowing it had foundation work done that was warranted and the warranty transferred to us. Six years later, we learned that the front living room and foyer of the house, which was on a slab foundation, had a big crack down the middle of the slab and had fallen a good four to six inches. Yes, the foundation piers that had been put in were working fine and were guaranteed. But the foundation repair company had advised the homeowner that he needed 12 piers, and he only did six. The right side and front were supported, but left side was still sinking. The home owner had hidden this from us by putting in a false floor and putting thick carpet over it. It turns out that the front room was sunken 6 inches lower than the adjacent foyer when it was built in the 1970s. The owner used that six inches to put in a kind of floating floor with 2 x 4s, shimmed to level with wood shims, with a plywood subfloor on top. This was not a first house for us. It was my 4th house, and we hired an inspector who my friend had used and who was supposed to be picky. He did not notice that room seemed odd, with a 1 inch drop. It cost us six months of construction living and $40,000.