"IMM" wrote in message
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"andrewpreece" wrote in message
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"simon beer" wrote in message
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Any body ever laid slate floor tiles?
I've laid slate on concrete before, but I did it the wrong way! I'm
telling
you so you don't try it that way. I laid them on a bed of concrete, and
had the idea that for full strength they should be totally in contact
with
the concrete below. To this end, I laid each slab on a more or less flat
bed of concrete. That's a hard way to do it since all slates are of
different
thicknesses, so to get them to the right level, the only answer is to
shimmy
them around so that excess cement exudes from the gaps between slates.
Cement doesn't exude very well, and if you squeeze enough of
the
water out of it it locks solid and shimmying no longer has any effect.
Then
you lift the slate and start again! If I did it again I would use the
finer
and
stickier cement grout you can buy,

What make?

Wickes. At any rate use it for grouting the joints as cement/sand mix is
really too gritty and gives a rough finish ( I used 6mm gaps between
slates ).


and use a 5 dab pattern under each
slate, so it can be manouevred into position easily - it leaves
airspaces
under the slates so when you drop something on them they sound a little
hollow, but so what!

If you have a well insulated floor, the masonry above the insulation acts
as
thermal mass, providing you don't cover it with carpets. Dotting and
dabbing
the slate tiles partially isolates you from a the thermal mass below. I
would not recommend dotting and dabbing anything.

I can't comment on the thermal aspects, only that it is extremely difficult
to bed
any tile of a decent size down onto a flat bed of mortar ( I am talking 1
foot
square or larger here ). Unless the amount of cement used is more or less
exactly the right amount, your slate tile will sit proud or too low; using a
sloppy
mix to facilitate adjustment can create other problems. Bricks ( easier to
lay
in this respect as they are smaller ) are laid on a bed of mortar which has
had
a pattern chopped into it by the brickie ( with his trowel ). It is the
equivalent
of dot and dab, but modified for brickwork. I expect that skill in
application of
cement in any application will make for better results, with less or no
voids, but
I reckon it is very difficult to lay large tiles and adjust them to the
correct depth
without using at least a variant of the dob and dab method,

Andy.



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