The Natural Beauty of Slate Tiles

Whether your style is rustic or contemporary, traditional or modern, natural stone tiles hold a timeless appeal. With it’s layers and textures resulting from it’s birth in volcanic ash, the natural characteristics of slate bring the beauty of nature inside our homes.

Black Slate Split Face Tile

As slate is a natural material, you will have the variations in the stone that add to it’s appeal. It can look rustic when paired with an oak kitchen or take on a hotel-worthy contemporary look when paired with glossy black ceramic. As with any natural material, this comes with both advantages in terms of it’s final beautiful aged look and disadvantages as there is a bit more work involved in it’s installation and care.

Slate tiles are naturally absorbent and so proper sealing is crucial for the look to last so that your tiles do not absorb dirt or oils it may come into contact with in normal use. Use a good quality natural stone cleaner once installed to remove any haze left behind from the grout. Once clean, it is vitally important to seal the tiles to maintain their natural beauty.

Rustic Uncalibrated Slate

When installing slate on walls, we would recommend using a flexible wall tile adhesive, especially when applying to a studded wall or to plasterboard. It’s also a good idea to apply a primer to the walls for an excellent bond. Without that bonding agent, there’s a risk of the plaster absorbing the water from the adhesive before it’s had a chance to dry, causing your tiles to fall.

Silver-Grey-Split-Face-Mosaic

For flooring, it has excellent heat-retaining abilities, so it could be the perfect choice to use with an underfloor heating system. You may even find your electrical running costs are lower by using slate flooring – definitely a plus!

Indian-Black-Slate-Modular-Tiles

Unlike man-made tiles, slate tiles may have different thicknesses and so your best bet is to dry lay them first to ensure a level floor. Using a slightly thicker adhesive for slimmer tiles will allow you to achieve an evenly laid floor.

For more information on caring and maintaining natural stone tiles, check out our advice article here.

Why not explore all our slate tile ranges? We offer free and whole samples straight to your door.