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.

If the tile is "unfinished" than you would want a sealer on it. However, if it is unfinished than the tile sealer should have been put on before the grout went on as grout can stain an unfinished tile. If the tile has a finish than a sealer is not needed or necessary and I'm not even sure if it will "stick" to the tile. You need to have this answered by Bill Vincent or one of the other tile experts. If you post this on bathrooms and/or flooring forums, he and others who do tile installation for a living, will see it and be able to give you a better and more thorough answer than I.

Thank you Jerry, I really appreciate you replying. I have decided to pay the 10% restocking fee for the TEC XT grout (after the 25% off and before the 7% sales tax it came to $36.71 for their stain resistant enhanced grout that is not an Epoxy. I will then drive a few miles farther down the highway and go to Lowe's and buy the SpectraLOCK Mushroom grout that I wanted but the former installer just wanted to use what was at the local tile store where I bought the Akoya Bone Tiles. I heard I need lots of sponges. What sponges are best so there will be clean ones here for him to use since I want the color to be true? The new installer says he can pick up glue and I do not need to buy more of the Adhese-SuperflexW Tile & Stone Mortars, 50 Lb Super Flext White (says this on the package so has abbreviations.. is in my cold garage right now....$42.74 after the 25% off I paid and before the sales tax). I was told the glue I had bought was a special Latex Glue. How can the installer mix glues since I have so much of this bag left over? What glue should we use since I have a cement floor due to the fact that I live in a townhouse with no basement. All this stress due to the first lot of the Rialto Beige tiles being sold out so I found a tile that looked just like that lighter color I wanted. I would have just asked Lowe's and bought what glue they told me but I can't return opened dry glue so now I have this bag here. I have to put an Estate on extension today and get these holiday cards out as well as close a few corporations. I am so behind in my work since I want my two foyer areas to look nice. I wish you lived near me Jerry so you could do this tile job for me and it would have been done months ago and I would not be behind in my work.

Trebruchet, thank you for the information. I ended up not cancelling my tile install. The installer is doing a great job and gave me a 1/16th grout line using the running bond and it looks wonderful! I managed to convince him to use the Tec Power Grout and the special sealer on top of that so that I will have some protection. He would not use the epoxy grout and did not feel that priming my concrete slab floor in my kitchen was necessary. He felt my concrete was dry and in great shape. Icskaisgir, Due to my insurance company wanting me to close out my claim, I decided to install my tiles under my appliances and on the floor and the do the hardwood floors everywhere else. Get my recessed lights fixed in the ceiling and installed recessed lights in my home office. Then I will buy my new downstairs windows since the vinyl cracked and the new doors that have settled and are so cold no matter how hard I try to insulated them. Then I need to replace my sinks and toilets upstairs. Then I will revisit my kitchen. So far with the Tec Antique White grout the installer convinced me to use instead of the warmer Latricrete Mushroom grout with my tiles, it looks like the Shiloh Polar White may look great in my kitchen. I will see if I can bring sample doors home of this brand and another brand when I am ready again. I hope in a few months. I also have to change the 2 years 7.5 months halogen light bulbs with LED and I am trying to decide between the 3,000K versus the 2,700K. I love my tile floor! I will share pictures in a few days since the appliances still have to be put back and the floor sealed. The tiles to me look like real stone with a lot of variation in them. This post was edited by lynn2006 on Wed, Aug 13, 14 at 0:57