So I've had this fear of choosing tile flooring ever since I put tile in a small bathroom and then found that I could never get that floor clean. I'm not sure why -- I think it may not have been sealed properly, something I'd never even heard of before I had it put in. We called the contractor back in but it never got any better.

Now we have a major remodel going on (different contractor) and there are three rooms where we are planning to install tile. One is a room that will serve as both mud/laundry-room and breezeway (it has both a door to the backyard and a passageway leading to two back bedrooms). I feel somewhat paralyzed for fear of making the same kind of mistake again with the flooring.

This room is about 13x13 feet overall. It will get a lot of dirt and traffic (people and large dogs). It will also have a floor drain in one corner,so we can wash off muddy paws and muddy shoes), so its floor will be getting wet. I absolutely need to install something that will be both non-slip and easy to clean. We are sure that we are going to go with some kind of hard tile.

At this point, my husband and I have, rather blindly, chosen a porcelain tile in a color called C-Stone Pearl, which is a gray-and-white. It comes in 18x18 squares from this wholesaler:

http://happy-floors.com/cstone.htm.

Our thought is to minimize the grout, but what grout there will be is to match the gray color in the tile. I hate dark grout. This tile does have some small "pitting" and I am hoping those pits won't become dirt collectors. I like the texturing because it feels like it won't be slippery.

What I'd like to know is whether we have made a smart choice. Is any particular tile material (porcelain, stone, ceramic?) that is best for cleanability? Is there anything I need to be sure my contractor knows or does? We have a lot of faith in this contractor, but his view of the job is naturally quite different from ours.

I would very much appreciate any hand-holding that will help us do this right this time.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1520692}}