Bill, I believe you had mentioned honed slate as being a must (for DIY at least). I am having a hard time locating honed slate in my area (Norfolk, VA). Is it an especially hard slate to locate? I wouldn't say it's a "must", per se, but it does make installation alot easier, being that all the stone is the exact same thickness (or atleast close!), and you don't have the clefting in the face of the tile where grout can get caught and turn a beautiful installation ugly. - Also, wanted to get your thoughts on using slate in a powder room. Again, my concerns are having an uneven slate and a potty...... Is the honed slate perfectly flat? Yes, it is. That said, I HAVE used natural cleft slate on bathroom floors before with no problem. - My Plan B stone was a black limestone -- Noir Travertine I think. Do you know anything about this stone in terms of durability? Good backup? Also not a problem. The biggest thing you need to keep in mind is making sure they stay sealed-- especially in the area around the toilet. (?????) Just as nature would have it, ammonia will eat sealer away quicker than almost anything, and especially in the case of the limestone, it's a pretty absorbant stone. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. :-)

Thanks for letting me know, but we've just finished picking out our tile. We met with the tile installer, and he told us that if we went with any tiles from Home Depot or Lowes that he would charge an extra $1.00 per square foot for installation. So we ended up going back to the dealer we went to originally and dealt with someone else. Here's the tile we picked: For the master bath floor: Ragno Riverstone Fuerte For the master bath shower: Daltile Goldrush Klondike White I was all set to go with the Daltile RD-06, but then I saw the Ragno Riverstone. We both really liked the look (and it was only .50 more than our budget). Thanks again everyone for your help!

Your comments make me think there are specific reasons that the GC isn't coordinating this? Well, if the inexperienced GC is only giving you "loose directions", did you at least read this before you proceeded? Prior to using any slc, you really need your ducks lined up. You need all your prep work done, especially sealing any crevices that the slc could flow through. You need to contain the slc to get a level finished area. You also need to have your helpers lined up and they need to know their roles in the process. Who is mixing the next batch, who is transporting, who is placing, who is leveling, who is cleaning. The key to placing slc is to do it in one "continuous" pour, you want to be placing the second batch before the first batch is past its open time. If the floor is so out of whack that you have an excessive thickness of slc to be placed, then it can either be done in separate lifts, or you can ditch the slc and do a mud floor. From your post I don't know what the scope of the project is - are you just leveling the area under the shower base, or are you leveling the entire bathroom floor? Were this my project, and the floor was really nasty, I'd consider pulling the subfloor and leveling the floor joists (new joists sistered to the existing or tapered shims on top of the existing). Presumably it's not too bad since you're going the slc route. For slc I'd prep the existing floor. Re-nail what's there, and if needed, add another layer of ply. Then add a rim to contain the slc. Rim the drain so the slc doesn't flow down the drain hole. Seal any cracks in the underlayment/subfloor. Prime the underlayment/subfloor if required with an slc primer. If needing several batches and doing this DIY, try to have a 3-person crew. One to mix, one to transport the product from the mixer to the placer and clean the buckets after the product is placed, and a third person to place the slc. At a minimum you need two people, one to mix, another to place. You need to be a well-coordinated crew as you don't want cold joints from one batch of slc to another. As far as placing the terrazzo base, as long as the subfloor is level, the drain holes line up and the area is properly framed, it's not that difficult. Mongo

That is what I thought. Everything was going good until we mixed the thinset. We mixed the thinset as per the instruction on the thinset. I wish I had read the ditra instructions where it stated on bag can be used to cover 150-200 sq ft of ditra to subfloor and one bag to bond 50 sq ft of tile to the ditra. Obviously we mixed it too thick and then the thinset went on this as well. My wife did add more liquid as we were realizing that it was too thick. We are just going to go forward with installing the tile on the ditra. It looks good and I know that when I was applying the ditra the thinset was getting decent coverage. We did set 16 tiles on Sunday and I walked on them yesterday and they seem very well fixed in place. No movement at all. How level do the tiles need to be under the vanity? This is a 48 inch vanity with 4 legs. I know it would be best to make sure it is level. The subfloor was leveled out prior to installing with some shingles and tar paper but all is still not perfect and I am not the best at adding/removing thinset to make each tile level with the surrounding ones. It is coming out good but nothing is perfect. OH...if things crack...we were planning on renovating the kitchen in three years so we will redo the floor and vanity at that time. Hopefully it wont crack but not the end of the world...we are only talking about 50 sq ft of tile. Thanks, Steve