I am very worried about the tile. It seems that in every restraunt, friends house, or anyplace with ceramic tile, it has this shiny gloss to it and never stains. Is this just the tile? Because the grout in my kitchen and bathroom has stained in a couple of places. But at these other places, ie restraunt bathrooms, I have looked and there is no staining at all. Im also scared to mop the floor and end up staining the grout (I have been here a year and have never mopped). Help!! What do I do, and if i need sealer, how do I put it on??? Thanks!!!!
soi take it that you want to seal the grout, not the ceramic tile. they're two completely different things. you can seal a grout by using any sealers that can seal porous materials. that'll keep most of the things from staining it. You will, however, have many choices of sealants. Most are topical, which is like putting a thin layer of wax on the surface to repel liquids and oils. This works ok for the most part but in time it will fade and you will have to reseal every year or two. It also will not protect your surface for a very long time. Within about ten to twenty minutes, the liquid or oil will saturate your stone. The alternative is a fluorocarbon based sealants that will chemically change your grout/stone to make the surface tension of the stone/surface less than water, repelling water more effectively. You also do not need to reseal after a year or two because it's not topical. The only sensitivity is with UV/sunlight. The downside of these sealants is that it does not repel oil very well. If it's for bathrooms, you should be ok, unless you decide to take a bottle of crisco and cook something in the bathroom. Whatever you do, make sure you wipe the surface clean after a spill, as soon as you can, and also that when you seal your surface, you give it a good 2nd or even 3rd coat to seal it well.
