To Tile or Not To Tile...
Yesterday was a school Saturday for me - my land use planning class. While our instructor droned on about Elite and Pluralist views on creating economic opportunity, I drew out the floorplan of the front room and thought about different tiling options. Home Depot has 16" slate tiles for $2.50 a piece. Does anyone have any experience with slate? It looks more challenging that regular ceramic tile in that the edges aren't of uniform thickness and would have to be floated in the grout in order to come out even. Can you bevel slate with a diamond grinder? I think I'll go work on the deck...posted by Scott in Washington at
10:11 AM
|
2 comment(s):
You’re definitely right about slate being warm and attractive if done correctly. My mom also says that the slate in her entryway catches dirt very effectively. I’ve been wondering myself about the best way to seal slate. I wonder if you can immerse and soak the tiles in sealant beforehand. I’ve been wondering that, too, about saltillo for the basement. Would it affect the ability of the tile to adhere to the grout?
I measured and calculated yesterday evening and I think we could do the front room in slate for less than $450 in materials - great investment I think.
The tiles I looked at, at HD were indeed gauged, meaning that they had been cut to a uniform thickness across the backs of the tiles. The problem is that the top surface of the tiles is flakey and there is up to a 1/4 variation in the surface of the tiles. That translates into quite a bit of variation at the sharp 90 degree edges of the tile where the top surface turns the corner and becomes the side of the tile. Home Depot can send Johnny Law after me if they want to, but I’ll admit here and now that I opened up one of their cardboard boxes of 16” tile and laid the pieces of slate out on the floor at Home Depot. When I swept my palm across the surface of the tiles, I could definitely feel the sharp edges. I’m not sure how much of that I could correct by floating the tiles at a slight angle in the grout.
A colleague I spoke with Saturday had a great term for when the sharp edge of the tile sticks up above the grout and floor surface but I’ve forgotten it now. The tile I have had experience with up to this point has a beveled surface so that the sharp edge of the tile is a 1/8 inch lower than the top surface of the tile and is therefore much more forgiving if you don’t get the float just right.
I think I’ll keep looking for a higher quality source of slate, and maybe buy a tile or two to experiment on beveling edges with a diamond saw or sander.
SD
By
Scott in Washington, at
10/25/2004 09:58:00 AM
By
Anonymous, at
10/29/2004 03:22:00 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home