Sounds like it will be beautiful however spendy it may ultimatly be. How thick are the pavers? And you want to drive over this? We are also in Pa and I would be VERY leary about doing this. I know someone in eastern PA who did one inch thick slate pavers in concrete on their patio which was concrete. They are cracking- been in about five years. I have another friend who has a paver cobblestone driveway set in sand with a gravel base. This has been in about 15-18 years. Still looks good. If he's done this before and its held up - have him guarentee yours and go for it. Would be completely intallation technique sensitive.

no, it isnt ok. That tile store has no idea what they are talking about. At a minimum, there needs to be separation via a uncoupling and drainage membrane between the slab and the tile system for 3 reasons: each will expand and contract at different rates that could cause failure freeze thaw cycle moisture drainage The installation also needs to be sloped for proper drainage. The last thing you want is undrained water puddling between layers, then freezing and causing a blow out or cracking from the expansion. At a maximum there can be a complete mudbed system including drainage system. Schluter Systems has unparalleled systems and products that can help ... we trust no one else with our customers needs in ceramic time and stone support and instalaltion products. Waterproofing, Uncoupling, & Drainage Membranes: Ditra Troba Troba Plus Kerdi Finishing profiles, gutters, & accessories: Bara-RW Bara-RK Bara-RAK Bara-RTK Bara-RTP Bara-RWL Barin SOT Expansion and Control Joints: (these items are for honoring any control or expansion joints in your concrete slab, or if your tile isntall is large enough to warrant usage to aid in crack suppression from expansion and contraction) DILEX-EZ DILEX-MP DILEX-MOP DILEX-BWB DILEX-BWS DILEX-KSN DILEX-BWA DILEX-AS DILEX-HK DILEX-HKW DILEX-EKE DILEX-EHK DILEX-HKS DILEX-EDP DILEX-AKWS DILEX-KSBT DILEX-AHK DILEX-BT Schluter Systems also makes products and profile pieces for corners, sills, steps, and virtually any other ceramic tile need for any interior or exterior application. The link below shows their complete product line. Lastly, my suggestion would be to call tile stores or independent tile contractors until you find one that recognizes the needs for proper membrane usage, water drainage, and system slope needs for drainage in an exterior tile system. Here is a link that might be useful: Complete Schluter Systems Product Line

The Indian slate probably is not a very good stone as far as using on a fairly heavy traffic floor either. It is much softer than the Brazilian Multicolor (or it should be!). I agree. I was very surprised to see the reply where the Brazilian slate was flakier. Usually it's the other way around, in a big way. The Asian slates are notorious for shaling. One way or the other, with ANY slate, all the shaling that's going to occur, WILL occur within the first 2-3 months. After that, it's not a problem. Also, both David and Stonegirl borught up a valid point about deflection. Most woodframe homes are engineered to meet the minimum deflection standard for ceramic tile (which also happens to be the minimum for MOST flooring), which is L/360. What that means is the length of the joists in inches, divided by 360. If you were to put a stringline across the floor it would be the curvature that occurs when a 300 pound weight is placed in the center of the span. If it's more than the result of that L/360 equation, then your floor's too weak for tile. Fortunately, as I said, most floors are engineered to meet that standard. The problem is that natural stone require the floor to be literally twice as stiff, as Stonegirl mentioned. The satandard jumps to L/720, and usually that'll mean bracing the joists from below or "sistering" them with new joists. If you don't do thins, there's a better than average chance that you'll have problems with the floor later.

Reporting back that we have had Lapitec installed for about 3-4 weeks now. We ended up getting 3 cm because of large overhang on the peninsula. Unfortunately that overhang sent us into a 3rd slab. (We'll end up using the extra in a bathroom, rather than what we had originally planned.) We had a very good fabricator in our awesome contractor (Cornell's Quality Construction in Kirkland) who has his own shop and is certified through Pental for Lapitec installation. They did a very nice job, but I've been kicking myself that I forgot to ask for it to be flush around the sinks, and they did a negative reveal which is not my preference, especially if this stuff is prone to chipping. I have a big sink, so hopefully I can learn to keep things away from the edges. The first day, I whacked a baking sheet underneath the edge while washing it and it was fine, thank goodness. We got "Bianco Polare" which is a plain white, satin finish. It looks lovely, but is not without issues. It is nice and smooth. It is cold, and maybe a bit noisier than granite. Of course being plain white every darn crumb shows. But what is frustrating about it is that it marks up. There are grey marks on it from aluminum pans being set down, from moving countertop appliances to wipe under them, etc. Those grey marks do not just wipe off. I can either rub them with my finger like an eraser, or use a scrub like Mrs Meyer's. So they do come off, but what a pain. This was not something I even thought to test when I was trying to damage the sample I had. A friend of mine got Lapitec also - she got the glossy Lux finish, and the color is one of the lighter browns. She likes hers but says it always looks smudged unless she has just washed and dried it, which I think a glossy finish is prone to regardless. She has not commented on it marking up like mine does - maybe the Lux does not do that. I am not sure I would get Lapitec again. But I'm not sure what I would get instead.