Dave and I have worked really hard on cleaning and sealing the floors so the tile guys can come back to grout them. The cement tile is so porous that if we didn't seal them with a silicone based sealer first, the grout would stain the light colored areas in the tile and foot traffic and all can make a permanent stain. It has been a big job. Doing one room would not be bad, but when you have workmen all over a house, it is really stressful trying to get the floors all cleaned and sealed. Since no one here has ever had any experience with cement tile, the workmen just do not seem to be aware of how easily it could get stained before it is sealed. The tile pattern on the living room / kitchen floor is Surf "Agua" .

I have warned some others who are installing cement tile in a big way to wait until all the workmen are out of the house if at all possible. Or invest in some covering that will totally protect the floor...maybe thin plywood everywhere or at least buy some of that temporary carpet protector plastic adhesive film. I wish I had thought of using that. It would have been well worth it.

In the old days it was recommended to oil your tile before they get grouted, but today the new modern sealers work better than oil on protecting from both water based and oil based stains later on. If we oiled the tile now w/ mineral oil, it would make applying the sealer later impossible. 

The kitchen and living room tile floor is now cleaned and sealed and ready for grout tomorrow morning. It will clean up and polish up a lot more once the grouting has been done.

David stated the tile laying out in the center of the room to assure that the rug motif was properly centered. It was amazing to watch this floor come together. 

Huge job, but this floor will be stunning. 

All of this tile is now available for others to order from Villa Lagoon Tile website. 

For other types of tile try these guys:

Roy worked late into the night to get the shower floor poured and ready for tile. I just do not have enuf cement tile on hand to line the shower in it. I was thinking of using glass mosaics, but never knew the size until the last minute and never got the panels of mosaic tile made to install. Instead I went out on a dark cold night to Hood's in Foley, AL to buy some tile or something to use in the shower. 

It was going to be a problem to get matching bull nose tile with out having to order it and wait. 

I ended up finding some travertine that is a good color match for the floor tile. The ends and edges of the polished travertine can be buffed up to have a finished edge, so that eliminated the bull nose issue.