Slate tiles

[MIKETILER]

I have a client who wants me to lay 300 x 300 slate tiles onto an old sandstone floor.He wants me to butt the tiles together ie no grout lines.Can anyone foresee any problems by doing this
Mike

 

[Andy-D]

I have a client who wants me to lay 300 x 300 slate tiles onto an old sandstone floor.He wants me to butt the tiles together ie no grout lines.Can anyone foresee any problems by doing this
Mike

As slate is a natural stone it is very unlikely that each tile will be exactly the same size and thus it will be difficult to have small grout lines, let alone none at all! So dont go there !

I have seen ceramic floor tiles vary in size by a fraction of a mm, which is enough to ruin your lines over a few meters.

Andy

 

[L & R CERAMICS]

ive done a hallway floor like this and we ended up cutting each individual tile to make it fit but then the issue of different thicknesses was a problem but because this is what the customer wanted they had to pay ,and we still had to grout it as to fill the butts

 

[MIKETILER]

Thanks for your replies
I too have told the customer the pitfalls of doing this ie the variations of tile sizes and the work involved,but he insists that is what he wants.But what do you do,turn the job away and let someone else do it. Sometimes I find that what customers want goes completely against what you know is the right way to do things.All you can do is recommend.Its up to them after that.
Mike

 

[Concept PHT]

All the advice given here is bang on, and I have had the same problems with slate. You do need a grout line to hide the slight variations in the calibration.

Me, I would hand your quote in with your recommendations on it, then leave it at that.

If he calls you, then he does. But if he don't, you can have the satisfaction of knowing that a poorly trained tiler is struggling there ******** off to get the job right after realising it cant be done.

 

[L & R CERAMICS]

someones going to f...k this one up

admin u still got a job

 

[MIKETILER]

Got him to accept having a groutline.These people just take a bit of coaxing and firm advice

 

[L & R CERAMICS]

the other thing to do is sort through and see how many bad ones to good ones and use the bad ones for your cuts and the thick ones the other thing is are you sealing these

 

[Concept PHT]

Some more good advice there Re: slate.

 

[Traxman]

Before laying slate tiles I suggest you seal them as L & R ceramics points out.
These tiles will be very difficult to clean if not sealed first. It as also advisable to seal again after grout and clean up.

 

[Leatherface]

Also - don't try & use spaces - do it by eye.
If you find some of the slates have a bit of lipping on the edges after laying, you can very carefully chip these off with a hammer and chisel - state is composed of many layers. In my opinion no need to seal prior to setting. Wash with 2 or 3 changes of water then allow to dry thoroughly before sealing. Advise at least 2 coats of sealer with at least 6 hours inbetween coats. Then 24 hours before grout. Use a washboy and also a normal sponge and wipe any ridges on the tiles carefully - the grout tends to stick there although you cannot see it until dry.
Try lithofin or LTP sealers -they are very good
I will post a pic of one of my recent jobs in the gallery

 

[trevortine]

Hardly ever seen slate thats accurately calibrated, always comes uncalibrated, i always seal it first too, lucky to have an 8.5m by 5m garage! Lay them out then of you go. Always find the same with a lot of floor tiles. I do most of my floors by eye and very rarely use spacers on them. As previously mentioned time you get a few runs down the spacers can throw you off.