I like using white vinegar for everything too. If you find yourself feeling uncomfortable with using it regularly, why not alternate it with something else? I use Black Diamond Stoneworks Ultimate Tile and Floor Cleaner every other time. It's ph neutral, neither acidic or too alkaline, so it's supposed to be safe for grout when diluted as recommended. The formula is made up of biodegradable cleaning agents, water conditioners, and fragrance. It costs about $5 and change for 64 oz. and is available at supermarkets. I think the formula is relatively benign and shouldn't be harmful over the long run to your floors or to people and pets.

I've tiled my own two bathrooms and my kitchen backsplash, so when my adult daughter's shower sprung a leak at her "new" (circa 1950) home, DH & I came to the rescue. Ripped out the whole tub surround (it gave up without a fight), fixed the plumbing, reinsulated, added backerboard, taped, mudded and commenced to tiling. Got complicated around the tub; being an old steel tub, it has about a 1" flange around the top edges as though it's supposed to bolt to something? We ran the backerboard down to within 1/4th" of that flange, did the tape /mud/dry time thing and then commenced to tiling. When I got to the grout, I must say, the grout was a tad drier than I'd liked for it to be, but I worked quickly and thought I'd done okay. We spaced the bottom row of tile to cover that backerboard/flange gap, which it did okay. Then I left my daughters to finish grouting the normal 1/4th gap around the edge of the tub. I would have used caulk, but since the gap varied some, the girls used the regular grout to finish off that bottom edge and the corners. Are you with me so far? It looked really nice. Now I notice a lot of little tiny cracks in the grout all over and I'm thinking I'll be okay to just smash in another coat of it. (She hasn't used any tile sealer, yet.) EXCEPT.........she called tonite to say the whole bottom row of that grout is soaking wet, coming out in big soggy clumps and some of the tile with it. My thoughts are that she didn't let the tile cure enough before going in and using it, so now we need to pull out all the soggy stuff and redo it from there. So, the questions are: did we handle the backerboard/tile/grout around that flange right? Or is there just enough movement in a steel tub to disallow a grout (vs caulk) to flex. If that makes any sense.......And the second question is: am I on the right track to fix it? How long does it REALLY take for tile to cure enough to take a shower? Please tell me I don't have to take down this whole job.....this is a single mother with a TEENAGE daughter who will just DIE if she doesn't get to shower. Thanks for reading this far............. mm

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.

Gah! Meanwhile my uppity homeowner self requested expansion joints in her tile floor. "Never heard of that", says the guy with 30 yrs experience in construction. I also have the temerity to NOT buy my tile from Floor & Decor. I asked for baseboards to be installed after the tile and that's not how they usually do it. "It'll cost more for the painters because it's an extra step." That's fine, I say. I'm using Corian instead of granite or quartz. "No one uses Corian anymore." I want deep counters for my kitchen that's too narrow for an island but too wide for a galley, never heard of that either. Frameless cabinets? "They aren't as sturdy as the ones we build." Steam Oven? "Never heard of it." HUSH for the sinks? "Never used that." This is an established and respected contracting company. They, and their subs, just don't know every detail about every thing. We're not kicking each other off of the job but I'm the investor, I'll ask questions, and advocate for a certain standard. I'm an awful customer, willing to pay for all of my "different" ideas and give them the information to accomplish them. OP, did your pro calculate deflection ratings? I'm wondering if it even occurred to him. One can ask for things but you need the pro to have the numbers/experience/best practice recommendations to have success. Pros have a varying degrees of the aforementioned and it's very hard to tell that until the job has started, or ended in your case. I'd talk to the installer and see what they think, while also posting the issue on the John Bridge forum and getting their take.