DIY Network

Slate Floor: Prepping for Tile From "Rock Solid" episode DROC-108

In this episode of Rock Solid, stone masons Dean Marsico and Derek Stearns are in the DC area working on a slate floor. Slate expert Tom Nigro is on hand to give the guys a hand.

Let’s get started on prepping the floor!

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	The once casual entryway...
	is now "VA-VA-VOOM!"...
	with a new, beautiful slate floor.
	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C
	Figure D
	Figure E

Materials:

Stone hammer
Chisel
1/2 in. heavy duty drill (with a 4 in. mixing paddle)
4 in. diamond blade grinder
Wet tile saw
3/8 in. notched trowel
Small trowel
Margin trowel
Rubber float
1/8 in. tile spacers
Clean sponges
Clean white rags
Buckets (several)
Square
Chalk lines (with red and blue chalk)
Measuring tape
Pencil
Crayon
Safety glasses
Knee pads
Thin set
Quick setting thin set (optional)
Penetrating sealer
Grey grout
Tile

Preparation

1. Begin this project and prepare for your slate floor by demolishing the existing floor down to the underlayment (figure A). If the underlayment is solid, you can use this as the base for your new tile floor. If your underlayment is in poor condition – marked by crumbling or deteriorating material – you’ll need to pull that up and install a new underlayment. Talk to your tile distributor for what material will be the best for your project.

2. Once you have a solid underlayment (figure B), cover it with a skim layer of thin set using a trowel. Thin set can be purchased from any home improvement store.

3. Order the material for your project. The material for the field of this slate floor project is a 12x12 inch "Rye with Red" slate – which will be installed on the diagonal. The border measures 8-3/4 inches in width and will consist of two parts – a four inch decorative border composed of 1x3 inch slate tiles and a back border made of field tiles cut to fit.

4. The next step is to find the center focal point of the room (figure C). Find the center of each wall; snap a red chalk line to mark each axis, and where the two lines meet is the center or focal point of the room. Mark the border on the floor using a straight edge and pencil or blue chalk line.

5. Dry set your 12x12 slate tiles on the diagonal along each axis all the way to the border starting at the center of the room (figure D). The goal of this step is to space the tile so that it looks like there are equal cuts on either side where the field tile meets the border.

6. If the cuts are drastically different on either side of an axis where it hits the border, you should adjust the tile to create the illusion that the tile cuts match. To adjust the tile, adjust from the center of the room. Divide the tile that starts at the center into quarters and shift the row over a quarter – this should open up your cuts.

7. Once you have decided on the starting point for that first tile at the center of the room – mark that location. Create a four tile template starting at that first tile, spaced out with 1/8 inch spacers (figure E). Trace that tile template onto the floor, remove the template and snap a red chalk line on each axis of the traced template. The grid that you’re creating will be your guideline for setting the field tile.

RESOURCES :

Capitol Tile & Marble Company
9525 Berger Rd.
Suite K
Columbia, MD 21046
Main: 800-851-5675
Fax: 301-854-6247

Stone & Pewter Accents
3555 Lomita Blvd.
Units H & J
Torrance, CA 90505
310-257-1300
Website: www.stonepewteraccents.com

GUESTS :

Tom Nigro, President
Capitol Tile & Marble

Marlon Roberts, President
Kemar Creations Tiling, Inc.
13308 Trum Peter Swan Ct.
Upper Marlboro, MD 20774
Office: 301-218-4772
Fax: 301-218-6626
E-mail: kemarcreations@yahoo.com