Few question on slate tiling

[Ian.m]

Evening all.
Been a long time reader of this great forum but finally decided to join.
I'm a general builder and have a lot of tiling experience with porcelain and ceramic but have never used natural slate.
i a have bathroom starting this week. A 5m square floor and 12m of walls to tile in slate. The tiles are 300 x 300 and are uncalibrated. Tiling is onto backer board.

I'm going to sort the slate into thicknesses and use thicker on the floor and thinner on the wall to help reduce the weight on the walls. Is this rite?

how are the exposed edges finished,.not external corners just where the tile ends halfway along a wall, where you would normally use a plastic or metal bead/trim.

is the method of install... lay, clean, seal, clean, grout, clean, seal?

also i would be very great full of any trick or tips for laying these that may help me out.
thanks
ian

 

[Gazzer]

Hi and welcome, sounds good but I cant see any trim looking good.

 

[Ian]

Welcome along to TF. A tip from me would be, use a slow set adhesive, laying uncalibrated slate can be very time consuming.

 

[Peter]

The exposed edges will be fine with a coat of sealer down them as long as you've got nice straight cuts.

 

[Ian.m]

Thanks for the promt reply chaps.

Couple more Q's,
What size notched trowel should I be using?

What size joint is best! The tiles are 330x330

What's the best approach for grouting? Like I would with no normal porcelain tiles, I'm thinking maybe using a thinkn nozzle on one of our mortar guns for the application to save a bit of mess.

Thanks.
Ian