We work with Mapei products and have not had any issues.

Cement tiles as a shower floor? Wow. That's brave. Cement can be MORE sensitive to staining and discolouration than marble. Marble takes a lot of effort to keep sealed when used in showers. I would guess the same amount of effort will be required to keep the cement sealed as well.

Please be aware of your maintenance requirements for the cement tiles as a shower floor. You might be surprised at how much work it is...just to keep them looking "sort of ok".

I know marble in a shower can require resealing as much as 4 times per year. And it will still etch and stain....it will just be much slower than if it was left 'natural'.

I did cement tiles on my bathroom wall. Are you aware that they must be sealed ( It took 4 coats of sealer for mine) before they are installed?

took me days to properly seal my tiles. make sure you use the best sealer that your manufacturer recommends. You'll know when they are sealed properly if water beads up on them. (and after two years, the water still beads)

Even then, the cement tiles can be discolored by grout if not done correctly. the installer shouldn't spread out the grout all over the tiles like he would regular tiles. With mine, and because I used black, I basically piped it into the joints and carefully wiped away. with white, (are you sure you want white grout?) you won't have to be that careful, but still be cautious. Have them keep the grout contained in the joints as much as possible and don't 'float' it over the entire area.

**make sure your tile guys know to dunk the tiles in water before laying them on the thinset.**

I used Mapei Flex Color CQ for grout.

Thanks, everyone. I think we will go with the Laticrete Permacolor Select since our contractor has used that and likes it. We've had the tiles for a few weeks now so I've had time to pre-seal them, using Miracle 511 Porous Plus Penetrating Sealer. Plan to seal them more times after grouting, before using the shower. While experimenting, I was able to seal the sample tiles 5x and let ketchup, body lotion, soap, toilet cleaner sit on them for close to 10 minutes without damaging, etching, or staining the tiles. We're using a terrazzo cement tiles that has specks of marble in the design, which I think, is a lot more forgiving.

We want to aim for 1/16" grout line, but will accept 1/8" spacing. We discussed using a piping bag for the grout with our contractor and he's already looked into using it. He's happy we will settle for 1/8" spacing because the 1/16" was really stressing him out.

I've read the installation instructions many times, and have added recommendations from other threads on this forum. Beth, I've read your suggestions several times, so I really want to thank you.

We plan to do what we can beforehand to keep our tiles looking great. We will likely reseal the cement tiles and the marble tiles in the shower walls periodically, like we do our kitchen marble countertops. In the end, we will accept that over time our tiles will age and etch, that's the charm of cement tiles that we are willing to accept.

those are beautiful tiles! I would have gone with those if I hadn't already ordered mine prior to the redo (I actually got mine on closeout because there was only 66 of them. great price too) I really like the terrazzo tiles you've chosen. would love to see your finished space.

This DIYer got it right and also made a video to help all of us: https://www.prettyhandygirl.com/how-to-install-cement-tiles/