Please read before purchasing from FastFloors. Back in January we decided to remodel our master bath. Upon a search of the internet, we found FastFloors to have the lowest price on our tile of choice but also found many poor reviews. Still the price was considerably lower, so I gave them a call. One of the first things I brought up was the poor reviews. I was assured by a very nice man named Ken, that most were due to customer misunderstandings about rebates. I told him I didn't want a rebate, just the best price up front. The next item I brought up was time of delivery as we didn't want to lose the use of our bathroom for an extended period. He said that our particular tile would take 2 weeks to round up from 2 locations in Florida and one in California, and another week to palletize and ship it all together to our location. I ordered our tile on March 28 and began demo work on our bathroom a few days later. I tentatively scheduled our tile setter for 3 weeks out . As a retired builder of upscale homes, I had always expected and depended on suppliers to deliver product when promissed. Scheduling was critical as the materials needed to be on site when the sub contractors arrived. On April 11, one week out from the scheduled delivery, I gave FastFloors a call to check on our tile status. Ken said he would have Amy, the shipping agent, give me a call to fill me in. The next day I got a call from her "CONFIRMING" that the tile was at the warehouse and I should receive it within a week. I then notified our tile setter and scheduled him to begin his pre-tile rough-in on April 16. The next morning, as the tile setters are arriving, I get a call from Amy, telling me that she is sorry but our tile has yet to arrive in California and that it would be May 5th before it would arrive "in port". What??? Nobody said anything about shipping by water! After the initial shock, I went into a very profane rant with her. I then had to send the tile setters home and break it to my wife that we would be without our bathroom for an additional month or more. Disgusted and wanting to speak to the person at the highest level, I searched and found a statement on the FastFloor website from a Mr. Cuozzo saying that if a customer encountered any issue, he could be contacted directly by email. On April 19, I sent him an email regarding my complaint. I NEVER RECEIVED A REPLY!!! On May 9th, Amy calls to inform me that our tile will leave the warehouse on the 11th and arrive on the following Monday or Tuesday. I then rescheduled the tile setter for that Wednesday. IT NEVER SHOWED UP! When I called to ask where the tile was, she said that she had no way to confirm if it had left or was still in the warehouse. I went on an even more extreme profane rant as I had to cancel the tile setter again. On May 17, I finally received "positive" confirmation from a trucking company that our tile would be delivered on May 22. It showed up late that afternoon. Due to FastFloors false promises, we have had no use of our bathroom for an extra 5 weeks. If you don't mind the poorest service ever but want the best price available, I highly recommend "SlowFloors". On a good note, Amy always kept up a professional front during my rants and the tile setter has finally started laying our tile. It is gorgeous!

Since you're talking porcelain, differences in quality shouldn't be an issue so I don't buy your KD's reasoning. If you were still considering the travertine, I would be more concerned about the possible differences in quality of the natural stone or country of origin being reflected in the pricing. That's not to say you can't find top grade materials at a discount. I have been shopping around for marble and travertine tiles for two bathrooms and have found pricing to be quite varied out there - even among local retailers. I found a reputable local place with great prices. A different tile place called to follow up with me and when I told him the deal I found he was able to beat it (coming down significantly from the original price quoted) - shows you the flexibility these places have in their pricing. I think with a little leg work you should be able to find lower pricing on both the travertine and the porcelain. Good luck.

What a wonder site and thank you to each one of you for your contribution. We are avid DIY'ers and done floors from hardwood to ceramic and porcelain, but never slate or any other stone or marble. The picture I posted (hopefully the picture posts properly) is of a portion of a home we did in a porcelain tile that mimicked a natural stone wonderfully and we considered using this same porcelain in our present home, but I've now seen a travertine tile that amplifies exactly what we loved about this particular porcelain so much and I can't seem to shake it. Even the cons that I've read I feel are worth accepting because this travertine is so beautiful. Can anyone tell me........if you seal the floor as instructed and you were to spill something (say some pickled beet juice), but wipe it up reasonably quickly, will it STILL stain??? Also, we have shied away from using hardwood under the dining table area because we are afraid of it being scratched from the chairs regardless of the fact that we have pads under the legs - does anyone out there have experience with travertine under their dining table and did / do the chairs scratch the flooring? I am truly attached to this travertine and really hope that we can make this work, but if it really is NOT practical, then the logical side of me will dictate that we do not use it (sniff, sniff) and perhaps we'll use the same porcelain we used before. One more question though.......I've heard that travertine can be sealed and then a finish can be applied that will give it a nice gloss (similar to a glossy porcelain tile) now is this true and does anyone have experience with this? The "flat" finish on the porcelain tile was probably the only thing that we didn't care for about it as we do like a gloss although I would probably forego that too for these travertine tiles. BTW.......we think the most beautiful thing about the travertine is the highly irregular patterns and colouring as the background is basically a mix of bright white and creamy white, the striations and streaks and lines and "blobs" of rusty orange, gray and even a bit of maroon are unbelievably BEAUTIFUL !!!!

Joanie - Thank you for your opinion and your nice comment. I appreciate it! The woodwork in the home definitely comes into play. Cran - Thank you so much Cran. I have thought about adding blue tile... like a border or something. But I am also completely open to ripping out the hood tile. Linley posted some photos below that have a lot of texture. Is that what you are thinking too? As for your tile... take it from me... post a few photos here and let the guru's help you! They are wonderful! Sweeby - It looks like all arrows are pointing to more Spanish tiles (with or without some crackle tiles) Hey... I guess it confirms that I was on the right track in the beginning.... LOL Love the pictures! Dutchy - Wow...now that is a great mix of elements there. I visited the link and they said that the tiles were original to the house and that they salvaged them from around the windows. Nice! More were custom added from Mission Tile West. Igloochic - Hey now! That is a major switch! I can't believe any picture of mine is being used as an inspiration photo! Thanks for your dissenting opinion, but it sounds like you would vote for the hood tiles to stay, so... looks like sticking with Spanish is your vote too! :) Linley - Thanks for the pictures and the built in links! The antiquity Mission tiles are gorgeous! It is a very interesting way of adding color, especially combined with such an amazing texture. Remodelfla - Oh boy... have I ever checked them out! We even took a road trip to San Diego to see them in person. They are beautiful! We might have to go back there soon. I didn't use them initially due to a hood issue... it was due to the fact that we needed 4" tiles and their tiles were 4 1/4". Since we wanted to use the same tiles for the backsplash... I kind of stopped there. Sorry for the delay in responding. I was out of town this weekend. Thanks again for the ideas, links, and leads. We are hoping to go to a few more tile shops this week. In the meanwhile we are continuing on with our final inspection process. Thank you all!