Christian McArdle wrote:

The previous post from N. Jones has covered most of it, also got our slates
(bamboo) from stonell, who were very helpful and would also recommend mainly
because of their advice, but also cost wise they were reasonably priced
(£3.0+VAT/unit) , and also had the 400x400 slates which we wanted. They also
allowed us to arrange own delivery - (Palletline - £41+VAT/900kg). Our
kitchen was 20m2, (on part wooden floor) so make your own adjustments of
what you'll need (bought 145 slates, 20 or so weren't used as non broken
when arrived)

1. Is 6mm plywood a good base to start on? Should I PVA it first?

Normally the recommended thickness of ply is 18mm, screwed down at 200mm
centres, you may be able to get away with 9mm if your floor is already
solid, a good way to check is fill a glass of water to the brim and put in
into the centre of the floor, then walk / jump around a bit, if you don't
loose any water then you should be okay with 9mm (but I wouldn't go anything
less). We PVA'd the ply using Ardex PVA before applying the slates.

2. What adhesive should I use?

Stonell recommended Howtex SS, however we opted for Ardex Ardu-flex 7001
timber system (approx. £30 / bag ), used 10 bags in the end as had uneven
floor. Used Ardex mainly cos their technical support / advice line were more
helpful.

3. How many coats of StainStop and Colour Intensifier should I use?
4. How many litres will I need of each?

The more the better, we bought 2 litres of stainstop, which did 3 coats.

5. At what point in the sequence do you grout? (i.e. before, after or
in between coats of the StainStop?)

We 'stainstopped' each tile before laying, then 'stainstopped' once laid,
then grouted, even then it still took more than a day to remove the grout
from the slate, thus remove as much of the grout from the slate when still
wet otherwise you'll regret it. Finally once grouted we 'stainstopped'
again, from recollection you need to reapply every year after that.

6. Do I need a particular type of grout? What colour looks good and
won't look manky in five year's time?

I think I followed the advice given here (andy hall ?) and went for grey at
8-10mm spacing, certainly looks right. Again use the flexible stuff, we used
Ardex again - 2x11kg bags (£10-15/bag)

Although it took much longer to do than originally thought, we are delighted
with our slate floor!
Good luck,
Jon