Slate floors--should I have gone with a glossy sealer?
bridget helm
16 years ago
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galore2112
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Enhanced slate - I want it shiny now
Comments (3)I think if you stick with the same manufacturer and they say it OK then you should be fine. I used Miracle MiraMatte over Miracle SuperSeal. For shiny they have MiraShine. I'd look up the website for whoever made your sealer and see if they have a topcoat with a shine. You can also usually get more shine with more coats - the MiraMatte was really sensitive that way....See MoreGetting rid of glossy look? (Pics)
Comments (17)Thanks for the kind words! Some ladies on the decorating forum think I should try distressing/antiquing the dresser a bit - sand it down a little, and add some black glaze to the drawers. I've never done anything like that before, but I'm thinking of trying it. Does anyone have any close up pictures to show me? Thanks again for your help and opinions! It's great to know I'm on the right track....See MoreAnyone have multicolored slate floors
Comments (26)We have remodeled our whole house and I have acted as the general contractor and supervised all of the subs which has saved us a ton of money. I put the grout release on the slate while it was on the driveway. Then I let the grout release dry. The grout release is to keep the grout (and probably any thinset which may squish up) from embedding into the slate and making it much more difficult to remove the grout haze at the end of the job. The slate is adhered to the floor with thinset - not glue. Slate utilizes a special type of thinset; tile uses another. We have concrete floors so installation was relatively simple as far as subfloor preparation. We did have to put on a layer of concrete self leveling compound beforehand because our concrete was out of level almost 5/8 of an inch from one side of the room to the other. I had a handyman helping me do the install because I have a bad back, but I supervised every step of the way because I didn't want three black pieces of slate next to one another and two copper pieces next to one another, etc. So I did a dry run of the installation beforehand to see what the floor would look like before adhering it to the floor. I also figured out that with the size of my living room if the slate was started at the edge of the middle of the room I would have needed much more tile - which would have been a 3/4 piece of slate on each of the four sides - and lots of waste. If you look at the left hand side of the photo I posted, you will see a 4 inch piece of slate - which is like a border around the whole room. The handyman wanted to start with the edge of the middle of the room, which would have meant more slate being used. I had him place the first piece of slate overlapping the very center of the room which made the edge end up needing a four inch piece of slate. More cutting but less slate and it makes kind of border around the whole room and I had him mitre the corner pieces. He was "b......." about all the cuts, but in the end it was worth it. So it pays to lay out your pattern beforehand with a dry run with the spacers to see how you can maximize your layout to save on the amount of slate. The same is true for tile too. To me checking the layout beforehand allows for a more esthetically pleasing design of the tile or slate. I can draw a diagram if this explanation isn't easily understandable. I was paying the handyman by the hour, so when it came time to clean the slate I did that part to save money. The cleaning is very labor intensive and hours equal dollars. Once the whole job was done, I also did the sealer myself. Laying slate or tile is possible to do yourself, but I would recommending trying to observe someone doing a tile job beforehand and practicing on a small project first, such as an entryway or table top or some such to get the feel of the materials involved and of doing a job. It is important to have helpers also. I did a fireplace surround tile job in my last house myself. I have also done exterior brick and flagstone walkway installations myself. Before tackling the fireplace surround I purchased one of those tile books and a video to learn how to do it. I also did a lot of reading in various books and on the kitchen and bathroom forum where they give excellent advice on tile laying. We also just got through doing both of our bathrooms where I supervised the same handyman and I have learned a lot each time a new job is done....See MoreThe Art of Blending In - A Slate Floor Story
Comments (2)I think we talked about this on an earlier post. you can't remove the glossy without stripping it. you could prob bring up the others to match the glossy. that's all you can do. since you don't like the glossy, i'm assuming you don't want to do that. You could try and just strip the glossy section and get it down to match one of the others (the enhanced one is your best looking). 4K isn't bad for all that floor. stripping it down to bare stone again is a lot of work. try getting two more estimates if you want, but it's still going to be thousands. Heck, just to do my 35sq ft marble shower floor was 200. (and he gave me a deal)...See Moreoruboris
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