I loved Louisiana, we had a place on the river, and our memories are great ones! In regards to consumer loyalty, I think that has to be earned & appreciated. For example, we were going to buy our tile from The Tile Shop. The rep we had spent a good amount of time with us and during our second visit, not only were we promised contractor pricing but there had been a price hike and he promised to honor the original prices. I was so happy with this store & the rep, I was recommending them to anyone who was interested. However, once the rep (who's paid by commission) thought he had the sale "in the bag", he conveniently changed the pricing and when I questioned it, he just brushed it off saying this was the best he could do. He didn't even look at us when he said it, or offer any other explanation. Bottom line was "his best" wasn't what he had promised and quoted in writing previously. So the pricing increased 10% across the board, our discount was lowered and I was very annoyed. Unfortunately for the rep, when I'm annoyed, I go shopping, which is when I found a tile we liked just as well for substantially less. We saved over 500.00. My DH says we should have stuck with The Tile Shop because the guy spent so much time with us, I say he didn't deserve the loyalty because he didn't keep his word and was taking advantage. It's just my personal opinion, but I don't believe loyalty can't justify spending the amount of savings you are talking about, but only you can decide what is right for you. In regards to the differences in glass thickness, I think they are both safe and it's just a matter of preference and budget. I figured that if we're not happy with the door we got, they are easy enough to change and we upgrade later. HTH -- Lukki

Following and will share this with my daughter. She has white hexagon tiles that have the haze, so not as noticeable but still annoying. Elbow grease and regular cleaning did nothing (floor installed a year ago) so will give the magic eraser a try and then it sounds like Oly's suggestion will do the trick. Thanks.

Thank you. I will contact the owner and let him know. I will also request that they send someone else out to do the cleaning and not the guy that somehow seems to keep making things worse. This isn't the first time during this job that I had to call and have someone come out behind him to clean things up. Thank you for telling me that I should be left with a clean installation. Sometimes I feel like I am being that persnickety homeowner.

@Lynn Lou your post is so timely. You may remember I am renovating my entire house, and the next chunk is the upstairs, changing four bedrooms and two bathrooms to three ensuites. I wanted to plan ahead this time and choose flooring for the entire house. I want hard flooring with area rugs to keep allergies and grime down, and because changing an area rug can be such fun. And I expect to use a Roomba and Braava to clean on a schedule while I'm doing something else. And I have chosen chocolate/bark brown for the color that is all over the exterior and goes well with all my other favorite colors. At first I wanted wood floors upstairs and porcelain tile in the bathrooms and entry/kitchen level. Pretty standard stuff. Then I realized the family room should have tile because of the fireplace. And winter came and made me think of how cold the living room floor is and how wood isn't the greatest over radiant heating. And then Jan came along on your kitchen flooring post with her comments on keeping to one flooring through the house instead of a patchwork. I started thinking of tile all the way. I was thinking of how I could handle the stairs in tile. I started looking for a tile that had lots of finishing pieces and came in different sizes. And all that in chocolate/bark brown. So I posted my ideas. People alerted me to solid dark brown being hard to keep clean looking and a medium brown is better. Whether it was wood or tile, the color I loved best was going to have to lighten up to a medium brown and a pattern was better. Then people warned me about patterns and told me to look for a tile that had lots of variation so the pattern repeats wouldn't be noticable. The one that really threw me was the comment that grout has to be resealed and you can't leave the sealer on porcelain because it will discolor the tile. OMG that freaked me out. It's the same thing you are talking about in your post. Was it true? Until this post, I couldn't get anyone to confirm. I couldn't find anything on the web sites. But I was scared. And now I know from your experience it was true. Meanwhile, I had started looking at natural stone. It seemed to solve a lot of tile problems, the most important it seemed was that I have to seal the entire floor, so I don't have to be down on hands and knees wiping it off the tile without wiping it off the grout. I also didn't have to look for one that had enough pattern repeat or came with matching trim or came with bullnose for steps and edges I have so many of. I finally found a stone store where I could see and feel many types of stone, though not all. But I did find a chocolate brown travertine in a picture and got to see a small chunk in person. Titanium travertine from Iran. It looked like a chunk of zebra brownie. I took it home and hubby and I confessed it looks edible. I tried it against existing new stone and tile and favorite -colored paint chips. I talked with the guy about how to use it throughout the house. Finally! We found our stone! Our floor for the whole house but with shower floors we'd have the half-cut pebbles we put in our new shower downstairs and maybe even the same shower wall tile as downstairs. All our floors would be heated and we would be happy forever... Sigh. But Jan said it would be way too much trouble and all that mopping, and I'd have to bring a pro in regularly to seal it and buff it professionally. I mean seriously NO. Go back to wood and if I have to have a stone, make it slate. But not stone all through, and if in Florida, still make it porcelain. So depressed... Then I read a Houzz post about stone floors and their pros and cons. And as sometimes happens, the comments were treasures too. People kept mentioning how much they hated the rough texture of slate and how much they loved their travertine and how even if you never touched it after installation it hid dirt so well. And an on line video of how to fill in gaps under the travertine tiles reminded me that the stone guy said travertine is the one tile you can crack or drill holes in and fill with the same filler and it all looks beautiful again. And now YOU who I really trust with your pro experience... You say you have a travertine floor in your basement and have never resealed it even. OK, just wow... Please tell me more about your basement floor and any advice you can think of. I am leaning back to my chocolate travertine with it's infinite pattern that will hide dust and crumbs like powdered sugar and nuts... But of course Roomba will sweep up. I know it's a basement and you don't want to show pictures, but I could really see a closeup of the grout lines. I'd like rectified tiles and grout as small as possible, but it would be nice to see what is possible. Now here's hoping this posts...my third try.