Local flooring company finished installing ceramic tile in my 50 sq. ft. bathroom on Friday. I'm plan on sealing the grout myself, but have a few questions:

1. There are a handful of pinholes in the grout. Is this a problem? Should I fix it myself or should I call the installer to fix it? How would I fix myself? (I have the left over bag of grout mix)

2. The installer didn't do good job containing the mess to the bathroom. The hardwood floors in the hallway had grout haze. Now that I've cleaned it, the hardwood in that area is dull and in places are damaged to where I'm almost down to bare wood. (floors weren't in best shape to start, but this made them worse) Should I ask the flooring company to make amends? Compensation?

3. I have 1/2 a bottle of grout sealer left over from another job about 4 years ago. How can I tell if the sealer is still good? (aka- does it have a shelf life?)

Update to question #1 (pinholes). I counted about 35 of them on a 50 sq. ft. floor covered by 13"x13" tiles.

I think I'd ask the installer to return and fix those pin holes. Three or four holes is not that bad, but 50 is too many.

As far as the damage to the wood floor, that's really up to you and the installer to work that out, but I'd at least bring it to their attention and see what comes of it. The floor should have been covered with plastic and/or paper to keep it from being damaged.

I don't know that I'd trust a sealer that is that old, considering the nominal cost of buying some more. If you really want to use it, call the sealer manufacturer and ask them about the shelf life.

How large are these pin holes? Are they really small or 1/16-1/8" in diameter? Sounds like he may have mixed the grout like soup.

Jaz

Majority of pinholes are probably 1/32" (like a normal sized period made with a ball point pen), some are 1/16" and a couple are a bit larger than that. The other problem is now hairline cracking in the grout. (both where the grout meets the tile and sometimes crossing the grout line)

Could another potential cause be not waiting long enough for the thinset to dry? The installer didn't wait 24 hours. He finished tiling late morning and started grouting at 7:30 am the next morning. The weather wasn't overly dry or humid.

They also used grout between the floor tile and baseboard tiles. I'm seeing evidence online that caulk should be used whether there's a change in plane. True?

What underlayment did they use under the tile?

I think Jaz was correct in the assumption that the mix was too wet.
That causes excess shrinking resulting in cracking and pin holing, especially in unsanded grout.

The joint between the base tile and the floor tile should have been caulked.