slate tiles

[dave7]

Hi

After being let down by my tiler and we are desperate to get our kitchen finished, i have decided that i may be able to tile my kitchen floor.

Pretty good at practical tasks have managed to renovate the house, with only the plumbing and plastering done by profesionals.

Have searched on here about the pit falls of slate please excuse the pun, but would like to ask a few questions to clear my mind up.

Shall i seal the tiles before they are laided this seams a very good idea and saves time at the end?

the floor is pretty level but not perfect around where we knocked the wall down, its proud by about 2-5mm so could i get away with just having thinner adesive underneath this section?

whats the best way to cut slate i have a small angle grinder would this be ok?

any advice on sealing and grouting would be great, i really want to get a good job at the end, never done tiling before so all advice would be appreciated.

thanks dave

 

[toptec]

Dave

As has been said many times, seal before laying, after laying and after grouting. Tiles are porous and will soak up the grout and it will be a sod to get it out of all the grooves and notches.

When grouted you can buy a final matt or gloss coat of sealer. Which does finish them beautifully.

As far as the uneven floor is concerned I would chip away any proud bits of wall. 2.5 mm doesn't seem much but with only a thin 2mm coat of adhesive it will be hard to get those tiles level with the others. Is your slate of varying thickness?, you could try laying some thin pieces if it is.

An angle grinder with a continuous diamond blade is ideal for slate which is quite soft.

If done properly slate looks great.

 

[tilerman]

Also important that each tile is fixed 'solid bed'. Use a heavy notched trowel unsuring the complete back of the tile is covered with sticky. The thinner tiles may need buttering up on the backs. Slate is quite soft and i once put a job right where the customer put 4 strategically spaced blobs on the back of each tile and pushed them onto the floor. Once the floor was walked on tiles broke, corners came off etc etc. Grout wise, i use a sand and cement mix quite often. 4 parts washed silver sand and 1 part cement. Easy to grout with and easy to clean off. I find this mix easier than grout as you can 'feather' joints with a sponge, also leaving fewer smears than grout.