hi, you should always go by what the manufacturer specify. coat them before you start to tile and again once laid before grouting and then after grouting one more time. the sealer should be a penetrating one . because of the nature of the tiles , being cement based, I do not recommend them being used in showers or constantly wet areas. some other recommendations for a bathroom application are .to use a membrane that is ok in full immersion. adhesive is also to be of a type that is ok in full water immersion.. remember that not following theses recommendations may result in membrane failure and water damage and even resulting in structural damage.

ckat0076, you are most welcome. The porcelain tiles are fantastic. I have always been a wood floors lover and have lived with wooden floorboards for 20 years. But I must say the tiles are sensational, they have just been the best option for our family. You do not have to worry about anything happening to them, yesterday I dragged a big sideboard across the floors and no marks. No more worrying about water on boards. The only thing I could say is the tile I chose turned out to be lighter, when laid over the large floor space. The sample tile looked darker. I cannot remember if your house is a new build or a renovation as we had to have a 15mm screed under the tile. If you have any questions at all, I am happy to answer honestly.

Thank you @Creative Style Interior Design and @bigreader @Creativelychallenged - Thank you for your nice words. We are indeed very happy with the result. We also went through all these stages you describe, so don't feel depressed... there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Our research stage was so long and quite discouraging at times. We've always wanted to live in a queenslander, but our house is not one. This didn't stop us on going ahead adding some character to our bathrooms design (and kitchen). We started with the idea of making these bathrooms with a colonial touch but we found that it was not easy to find the elements we wanted (tiles, furniture, tapware) at a cost that would fit our budget. We learned that the type of tiles we liked (encaustic) were VERY expensive ($200+), traditional looking furniture was also very expensive... So we shifted to a more modern design...(not very happily though), and after a while of collecting ideas for modern tiles, furniture etc.. we felt quite depressed because we were compromising... updating our bathrooms with something fresher, but far, far away from what we really liked. In our view modern furniture looked very plain, streamlined and... boring, but we were doing 2 bathrooms (on a budget) so we were not prepared to spend a fortune, and we settled with modern. We ordered marble type tiles for the floor 900x600, and wood like tiles for the walls, and booked the builder to start demolition. Luckily for us National tiles called us saying that there was an error and the tiles they promised were not going to be available for 3 more months!!! Depressed again.... It took us so long to find something we liked (kinda) and now we were back to square one. Then my lovely wife said... Why don't we give it another go and try to make a more traditional design as we originally wanted.... So to make it short... we went back online with 'refreshed' energy and pressure (demolition already started) and found many things I coudn't find before: Floor tiles @ $25/m2 Subway tiles for walls @$16 the box on sale... Ensuite furniture and basin from Ikea Main bathroom furniture was an antique dresser we found in an op shop for $150 repainted and repurposed.... etc... In the end we spent approx $12,5K for both bathrooms in total :-) So, to summarise... don't dispair... just look in this website, on pinterest, magazines, google, etc... Play around with ideas and copy!... (you'll see that our ensuite is quite similar to the first photo in this discussion)... Good luck! :-)

Hi Anton and Dr Retro thanks for the comments. Anton that is really great advice, you've exceeded the explanation on the seller's websites and also you've provided a deeper understanding of the materials. What you say makes perfect sense, and it sounds like you have much experience with these tiles. I like the idea of applying wax over a sealer, this makes sense to me. Anton, would it just be a standard floorwax, such as this one for example (based on beeswax). And once you've applied wax over the sealer, then do you keep applying beeswax, or do you then reapply a sealer? https://www.ebay.com.au/i/292592220249?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-139619-5960-0&mkcid=2&itemid=292592220249&targetid=480462538786&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9071957&poi=&campaignid=1490767175&mkgroupid=63057291572&rlsatarget=pla-480462538786&abcId=1139416&merchantid=119185944&gclid=CjwKCAjw1rnqBRAAEiwAr29II20USj1b2llPlQ4eqngD-Paf9nrbms5ILxdyKEGnKhVKAErlLGCE0BoCSKYQAvD_BwE