Slate Tile Flooring...A Beautiful Addition To Any Home

A Natural Alternative

Slate is a very fine grained natural rock composed mainly of chlorite, mica, quartz and calcite. It is formed when sediments at the bottom of rivers or the ocean are compressed and heated by the geodetic forces.

It often takes thousands even millions of years to actually get to the stage that we see it as building material either on roofs or floors.

Normally the bottom of any slate tile flooring is machine honed to provide us with a flat smooth surface or ribbed finished to provide a useful base for when being laid.  However the top will be kept in the same state as when it was split from the rock face so will be uneven.

Thickness is not Uniform

Generally the thickness of each individual slate can vary by as much as 1/4" from other tiles in the same batch, so when laying you need to look carefully at them as you installing them or you can end up with a very uneven floor upon completion.  This would then make it difficult to walk on and may even cause some people to fall over on it.

There may also be some variations to this but generally the thickness of each slate tile is pretty consistent and can normally be installed using a medium bed mortar.  By using this type of mortar you will be able to allow for any variations in thickness of all adjoining tile edges. Also whenever ordering your slate tile flooring order an additional 10 to 15% so you can allow for any waste, cuts that you need to make along with the variations in thickness of the tiles.

As slate is very durable and extremely hard wearing it is the ideal type of floor to be used for areas where extreme amounts of foot traffic are expected such as kitchens, bathrooms or patio areas in the garden rather than using say other natural stones, ceramic tiles or wood or laminate flooring. 

Low Maintenance

The other great thing to be had from using slate tile flooring compared with say ceramic or porcelain tiles is that it needs very little maintenance as well as being highly resistant to damage as long as it has been laid on to a solid substrate.  If you are unsure that you are laying it on to the right sort of substrate it may be advisable to contact a professional installer who will be able to advise you on this.  You may even want to spend a little more actually getting them to install your new slate tile flooring for you instead.