"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
et...
I'm going to install a slate floor in my kitchen. I'm planning:

1. 6mm plywood sheet over existing hardboard.
2. Adhesive
3. Slates
4. Lithofin MN Power-Clean
5. Lithofin MN StainStop
6. Lithofin MN Colour Intensifier

I'm planning to use Indian/Chinese style slate. The rough stuff with
red
streaks in, anyway. Is this a reasonable sequence? The floor will be a
fraction over 10m2.

Some questions:

1. Is 6mm plywood a good base to start on? Should I PVA it first?
2. What adhesive should I use?
3. How many coats of StainStop and Colour Intensifier should I use?
4. How many litres will I need of each?
5. At what point in the sequence do you grout? (i.e. before, after or
in
between coats of the StainStop?)
6. Do I need a particular type of grout? What colour looks good and
won't
look manky in five year's time?

Christian.



Not entirely relevant, but I laid a limestone floor in our kitchen onto
a concrete/screed floor, so obviously I didn't bother with plywood.

I used the flexible adhesive supplied by the stone supplier, Stonell. If
you're installing onto relatively thin ply I imagine you'll need a
flexible adhesive as well.

I used Lithofin's Wexa to clean the tiles after fixing, then a coat of
StainStop. This is before the grout to stop the grout from staining the
tiles.

Then the grout (again, supplied by Stonell) - a flexible product from
the same manufacturer as the adhesive. I forget the name off hand but
I've got the remainder of a bag at home so I can post back later if
you're interested.

Another coat of StainStop to seal the tiles/grout and that was it for
me.

From memory, I has 1 litre of Wexa, 1 litre of StainStop and one litre
of the Lithofin cleaner. I've got loads of the Wexa and StainStop left,
and this was for a floor 7.5 m2 area. The cleaner has lasted about 2.5
years of fairly regular use but we're running low now.

Stonell's HQ is a couple of miles away from me so it was easy to go and
get more adhesive when I ran out, and they refunded the returned grout I
didn't need. They were very helpful with regard to the installation
details and I would recommend them.

HTH

Neil