Flooring Tile - travertine tile sealing and installation

Hi, I am the proud owner of some travertine tile 18x18 we are insalling the tile ourselves. I don't know if I should install the tile and them seal it along with the grout all at once or seal each tile individually. I have found sites that say one or the other. I am concerned about grout staining the porous tile if I do not seal it first but its 900 feet of tile and my friend said its much easier to mop it on tile and grout all at once. Help any suggestions and what kind of sealent is best thanks jt :) brees

Went to a website that sells travertine tile. They say that sealing should be done routinely. Guess you'll be doing it more than once. Be sure not to buy a cheap sealer. Guess the issue of before or after installation is your choice. One other thing you want to do though, make sure the surface you are installing it on is non-moving and sturdy. You will probably have to butter the back of each tile as well as putting the adhesive on the floor to insure full coverage and no voids. Good luck.

The first thing with any stone is to make sure your floor is able to support the stone. Building codes require the floor to meet the L/360 maximum deflection but for stone you need to be at L/720. What do you have for your floor now, subfloor layers, joist length, spacing and size? I always set travertine, then seal, then grout, then leave it up to the customer to seal the grout if they wish to as it needs to be done several days later. Sealing stone before grouting does make it easier to keep the grout from staining or bonding to the top of the stone. Once the floor is strong enough for the stone, you will need to set them with a 1/2"x1/2" sqaure notch trowel, flat troweling the back and troweling the floor with your thinset with the toothed side. You need to ensure you've got 100%coverage and support with stone.