When I first heard the name Blue Mountauk I thought the tile was going to be more on the blue side, but nope. it's more on the green-ish.
I'm going to give you a recount of how our slate tile installation went, the materials and tools we used, and I'm also giving you some tips that might be helpful if you decide on installing slate tile in your own home.
The picture below is how our laundry room looked after the walls were patched and a new door was installed. The floor... Blah.
That's precisely the very first task for any type of tile flooring installation...
Cleaning the sub-floor and making sure it's level. Place a long level all around the space and find high and low spots and fix them to make it level. High spots need to be sanded down. Low spots need to be filled with concrete filler. You mustn't skip this step otherwise you might end up with tile chipping or cracking down the road.
Ours was a brand new sub-floor and we made sure to leave it perfectly leveled. ;)
I ordered these beautiful Blue Mountauk slate tiles at Home Depot - online. They arrived very well packed, five tiles in each box, protected with heavy-duty foam at the top and bottom of each box. Only one tile was broken and one of the boxes was missing one tile.
It is recommended that you buy 10-15% extra slate tile to account for this type of problem.
The materials you will need:
- Blue Mountauk Slate - I bought 35 - 12" x 24" tiles
- Cement board - Durock
- 1 1/4" cement board screws
- Mesh tape
- Thin-set mortar - I bought 2 - 50 lb bags - used 1-1/2
- Tile spacers - I used 1/4" spacers
- Grout - The color I used: Platinum - 1 - 25lb
- Tile sealer - I used SurfaceGard
Required Tools:
- Tape Measure
- Level
- Drill
- Thin-Set Mixing Paddle
- Wet Tile Saw
- Square
- 1/2" Notched Trowel
- Flat margin trowel
- Grout Float
- Extra-large grouting sponge
- Brush
- Five-gallon bucket
- Safety goggles, Work gloves, KNEE PADS
INSTALL CEMENT BOARD
Backer-board or cement board was installed over the sub-floor as another layer of protection or stability to the tiles.
Staggered the Durock boards so four corners never meet, and secure them in place using 1-1/4" screws driven every 8" or so.
Cover the seams with mesh tape.
LAYOUT THE TILES
Now is the time to bring the tiles and decide what pattern you want to choose for your flooring. Doing a dry layout is very important with slate tile. Pay attention not only to the pattern but also to the texture and color of the tiles.
I went for a herringbone pattern - a 45-degree angle.
At this point, I was very excited about this project. The room was pretty much squared, so following the herringbone tile configuration, I started cutting the row of tiles all along the wall with my small wet tile saw.
Well, this little saw was taking its time and I was getting scared of it getting burnt. I had to call my friend Donato to give me a helping hand with his trusty Husqvarna tile saw.
From then on, he took charge!
He used a drill with a mixing paddle attachment to mix the thin-set to a thick peanut butter consistency.
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| | Ridgid Hammer Drill | Thin-Set Mixing Paddle | VersaBond Thin-Set Mortar | |
Using the flat side of the notched trowel he scoop up some of the mortar and spread it right there in the corner of the room. Then, using the notched side of the trout, at a 45-degree angle he made the ridges or grooves.
He usually worked on two or three tiles at a time.
A little triangle was the first tile to be laid out, continuing adding the cut tiles right along the wall and adding the 1/4" spacers in between them.
He constantly checked the level line from tile to tile/corner to corner with his hands.
However, a level was a necessity for making sure an entire span of tiles was getting perfectly leveled.
The thickness of the slate tile is irregular. Some tiles are thinner than most others and some of them have thinner corners. When he noticed that, he made sure to add an extra amount of thin-set to that tile or corner.
Well, this is how the room looked as he finished the tile installation.
The next step, after waiting at least 24 hours for the mortar to dry, is to seal those tiles. He didn't do it, because he didn't have time, so he went ahead to add the grout.
GROUTING THE SLATE
Remove spacers and clean the tile very well. If you see mortar in between the joints, get rid of it.
The sanded grout was mixed according to manufacturer specifications. Use a grout float to fill those joints full of grout, then bring the float diagonally to the tile and at a 45-degree angle to remove excess grout.
Use a wet sponge to completely clean the tiles as you go along. Make sure the sponge isn't too wet and clean the sponge after a pass on each side.
He took a long time cleaning the tiles. Slate is a very porous material and without sealing it, the grout gets absorbed, especially along those fine lines.
SEALING THE SLATE
After waiting 48 hours for the grout to dry, I applied the sealer with a brush, soaking every single tile and grout line. Spots that dried quickly were given a second coat.
One more coat of sealer was given to the tiles the following day. Here, it was good to see how the sealer previously added was preventing the liquid from seeping through the tiles.
I chose a natural-looking sealer, with no sheen. And I might need to apply it yearly to keep the tile from absorbing liquids.
Here is how the little room looked while waiting for the sealer to dry.
And here, all dried! 🖤
The next part of this mudroom project is the building and installation of storage cabinets. I'm already on that task!
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Here are all the projects that were tackled during this mudroom build:
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It looks beautiful! What a perfect choice for a mudroom!
ReplyDeleteShelley