Roof slate as floor tiles?

[Howitzer]

Hi all,

I have permission to do what I want with a load of old slate roof tiles which came off an industrial building.

I was thinking I could cut these to size and using them for a bathroom floor as I love the texture and the look. This is for a self build we are in the early stages of doing but i'm drawn to old stuff.

So, will these be ok to use if laid properly?

Dave!

[mrmaggit]

Howitzer said:

Hi all,

I have permission to do what I want with a load of old slate roof tiles which came off an industrial building.

I was thinking I could cut these to size and using them for a bathroom floor as I love the texture and the look. This is for a self build we are in the early stages of doing but i'm drawn to old stuff.

So, will these be ok to use if laid properly?

Dave!

Be ware of them shaling.

You cannot guarantee that they won't split and that, with bare feet, would not be recommended.

Assuming that you will trim them to negate this, and you want a "rustic" floor, you should not have any real problems, just make sure they have dried out. It may be a while before they have stopped absorbing water, I'd be looking at putting them in a drying shed for at least a year before laying.

After this, you should be OK, but be selective as to which slates you use. Only chose slates that do not show signs of splitting or excess weathering. Your toes will tell you if you have not chosen wisely!

maggit

[Howitzer]

Cheers for the reply, much appreciated.

The tiles are currently outside and are over 100 years old from what I can gather.

When you mean dried out, I presume you mean just away from the rain for a while? No special conditions etc?

I am trying to think of various uses for them now haha

Dave!

[zcacogp]

Slate floors are commonly varnished once laid, and this will help minimise (but probably not prevent) the de-laminating mentioned.

From experience, I laid a slate floor in our new kitchen and it was a miserable job. All the slates were a slightly different size, varied hugely in thickness and were not cut with parallel sides or square ends. They also fell apart at the drop of a hat - around 15% came out of the packaging in pieces. Trying to make a regular floor out of them was a nightmare, and I swore I would never lay another slate floor again.

Having said that, if you are using roof slates they will probably be more stable and you can choose the most regular ones.


Oli.

[gtr-gaz]

I'd have thought roofing slates would be far to thin for a floor?

[mk1fan]

My first thoughts too.

[Howitzer]

At the average in the centre of the tiles they are around 8 to 10mm thick, they are probably double the size that I see on regular buildings.

Dave!

[GreenDog]

I'd imagine they'd break easily as they're very brittle in my experience.

If you do decide to use them you could probably cut them to regular sizes using an electric tile saw as they have a depth guide attachment thingy. This would make laying them much easier (see the post above about irregular sizes).

[Howitzer]

GreenDog said:

I'd imagine they'd break easily as they're very brittle in my experience.

If you do decide to use them you could probably cut them to regular sizes using an electric tile saw as they have a depth guide attachment thingy. This would make laying them much easier (see the post above about irregular sizes).

I will be hopelessly optimistic and presume they will never break, possibly haha. I was thinking if I tiled the downstairs bathroom first and used this as normal before going to the upstairs, I could give them a reasonable test.

Fingers crossed!

Thanks for the advice guys.

Dave!

[mk1fan]

They still sound a bit thin. I'd definately lay them on a full bed of adhesive and onto a solid floor to minimise the risk of cracking and movement.

[sleep envy]

sell them - weathered slate costs a bloody fortune!!!

you'll be able to buy slate flag tiles plus change with the money