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Building a Home Flooring

Large Slab Slate Flooring

last year

We are building a house. I was sold on real wood or engineered wood flooring. The designer suggested large slab slate. Does anyone have experience with slate flooring. I read all the pros and cons and although might be a different look I am still conflicted.
Thanks
Kathy

Featured Answer

just_janni

last year

Slate look large format porcelain is possibly what the designer was referring to?

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Comments (8)

palimpsest
last year
How large slabs, and are you on a slab on joists? If you are on joists the larger the stone slabs the stiffer and flatter the floor will have to be.
PRO
User
last year
last modified: last year
Slate has been used for centuries as flooring. ”Large slab” of any kind, not so much. The weight and logistics are much too difficult. Plus the really high cost. What real world experience does this decorator have with this? Or any flooring installation industry construction requirements?
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Thank you for your response and please forgive me for my slow reaction. As further background, about 4 years ago we had to replace our family and dining room floors with slate after our engineered wood buckled in places about 8-15 feet from the house perimeter due to moisture. The floor dealer stated that the moisture was fine prior to installation and a moisture membrane was not put down prior to the wood floor installation. When the floor failed we had one put down and had the slate installed. At that time there were soft areas in the wood in the living room adjoining the dining room and evidence of termites. We had those areas of wood removed and had the areas treated and put down new pieces of engineered wood. We also have the same engineered floor in our master bedroom (actually the whole house except for the baths and slate areas).. In an area away about 15 feet from the house perimeter we recently found evidence of either moisture or termites. We had guys in to check and they found both, with live termites under the floor in the area in question. They treated the areas and again replaced the wood floor with new pieces of wood. At this point we're treating the problem with band aids. Most likely there are cracks throughout the whole foundation. I do have pictures from the areas when the floor was removed.. At that time the workers didn't do anything in particular to fill the cracks outside of the regular surfac leveling and new membrane. We do live in an area of Southern Calif. that has has had movement issues. Our house is from 1978 and was tented about 10 years ago. In the future we'd like to be able to sell the house, but don't see how we can with this being an ongoing problem. Any help you can advise would be gladly received.
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Kathy
Original Author
last year
Thanks ….think she was referring to large format slate….a whole different concept. Still uncertain about whether I would like it as opposed to real or engineered wood. Appreciate the responses
just_janni
last year
^^^ I am aware of all the above. None of which was asked about by the OP.

Large slab slate is unlikely. I was simply trying to decode the designer's statement.
jkent9024
last year
Through the whole house? I'm getting to the age (50) that just the idea of standing and walking on hard slate/tile all day makes my knees hurt. It's too hard of a surface for me--we're sticking with the more forgiving wood in our current build. We are, however, using slate as our laundry room floor. It's not large slab, just 12x24, but still beautiful for a small area.
Carolyn T
last year
We had slate tile in one of our homes. It is beautiful, but it is like having a rock floor. Our socks were always dirty and torn up. Easy to clean because it is basically dirt so just wet mopped. We chose to put in slate look alike tile in the kitchen of our current home, but wood floors throughout the other areas with the exception of the bathrooms.
Timothy Winzell
last year
An online search for "large format slate tile" didn't yield much. The largest I saw was 24" x 24". Slate is rather brittle so I'm not sure if is suitable for larger pieces that would be thin enough to use as flooring.

We have 16" multi-color slate in a kitchen/family/dining area and love it. It has entries from the garage and pool deck and we don't worry about moisture or dirt getting tracked in. The rest of the house is wood except for one bathroom.

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