We’re re doing the bathroom next month and the missus is set on having slate floor tiles! Can anyone recommend where to get some from? I’d rather a nice flat tile but she’s adamant she wants real slate with all the lumps and bumps!

I’m in Manchester but would order online if anyone has any recommendations.

Do you have a Fired Earth near you?

http://www.firedearth.com/tiles/tile-type/slate?tile_suitability_group=338

Be careful with riven slate, the thickness can vary so much you need to lay the thickest ones first then build up the adhesive of the thin ones. It can cost loads in adhesive and grout.
Also it would be really hard to fit the loo sink and bath on an uneven floor.
Go to ‘fired earth’ they will give you good advice. They are expensive, but the advice is free. Try to talk her into a flat tile.
If you go for slate seal the top before you lay to help stop getting adhesive and grout stuck on.

Rockford do some real nice slate too. Hand pick a few of the more even ones you get for your sink etc. Makes sure to solid bed the tiles as you lay, makes it a lot easier to get levels.

Be careful with riven slate, the thickness can vary so much you need to lay the thickest ones first then build up the adhesive of the thin ones. It can cost loads in adhesive and grout.

This. Absolute pain in the arse when we were doing a kitchen floor – took about 10 times longer than it should.

I’ve been trying to persuade her to go for a flat tile or even a calibrated slate but at the moment she’s not having any of it, grrr!

I’ll take a look at those websites, thanks for the advice too. I’ve got a feeling g this is going to be a right PITA.

It’s harder than, say using a ceramic tile. But if you’re doing it yourself, take all the tiles out the packets, and organise them by thickness, at least that way you know where you stand, and by using a solid bed of sticky can make it a lot easier for yourself in the process. If any are really thick, get a wallpaper scraper and a hammer, and you can actually split it to make it thinner. (Work your way across the tile before splitting it fully)

There’s lots of porcelain copies about at the moment, that are a really good replication of slate. Tile Giant (if there’s one near you) sell one called emulated slate, comes in 3 colours in 60x40cm and looks pretty good when done. Topps sell a range called Rhondine (spelling?) which is another good porcelain copy.

If you need any more advice, my emails in profile, I’ll be happy to help with any more questions etc.

All slates are not the same, get her to have a look here It may help you to get her to buy a machined slate.

If you are in Manchester then you aren’t too far from Honnister slate mine. http://www.honistergreenslate.com/department/flooring/

We ended up buying wall and floor tiles from Mandarin stone, thanks Dropoff. I thought they were going to be a bit snobby (it’s that type of shop) but they couldn’t have been more helpful, even though we spent ages trying to work out what wall tiles to opt for!

Big thumbs up from me.

Too late now by the sounds of it but I always buy my slate for jobs from MrsStonestore near Burton on Trent, excellent quality and good prices.

Bit late too but I’d have advised against, got a black floor downstairs (kitchen, hall and dining room) and it’s a pain: looks lovely when it’s just been cleaned, and messy about 5 min later.

Topps Tiles. About 4 stores around Manc-land.

Slate is not really that difficult to lay. Just plan ahead, lay the tiles out and number them. Cutting them will require a proper electric tile saw.

Ahh well, I can’t fault the service so don’t I’m still happy. I’m laying them with dad (see other thread) and he’s got an electric tile cutter so we’re ready go on the tools front.

I didn’t want the slate but the missus was adamant about it so it looks like she’ll be spending a little more time keeping them clean 😀 it gets worse though, we’ve chosen Limestone tiles for the walls around the bath/shower so sealing that and keeping clean is going to be fun!

Not starting the job until early Dec but will post pics once done.

We have the rondine slate tiles from Topps as mentioned above. I think they look great and you can’t tell when they’re dirty 😉 I am incapable of DIY but I have a skilled FIL 🙂

My Topps Tiles slate has been down for 11 years. Still looks like it was done yesterday.

Word of advice. Seal the top surface with some HG Impregnator before laying. It stops the adhesive and grout sticking and staining too much. Otherwise you’ll be cleaning them up for ever. Plus it helps keep the just cleaned look.

Only use HG Impregnator if you want them to look shiny afterwards, it dries gloss. Use Lithofin Stainstop if you want matt finish but still well sealed and easy to clean.

I always lay my slate out on the floor, clean it then seal. After it’s dry pick it up and grade it as you do into piles of thick, medium and thin. Start laying with the thick pieces and work your way to the thins, the thin ones can be packed up to meet the level of the thicker ones but you’re buggered if you need to put a thick one in the middle of some thin ones. Use the thin ones for cuts also.

Grout it when it’s dry and then when that has fully dried I mop it over with a dilute brick acid solution to get all the residue off/out of nooks and crannies. After everything is fully dry and clean, seal it again.

Late to the party, but we recently got our slate from http://www.mrs-stone-store.com/. In the end we got calibrated slate, because of all the fitting issues as above – calibrated are riven on the top surface and then machined to an even thickness on the bottom, so no issues laying.

Rooms not in use yet, kitchen is still being installed, but it looks great so far.