from hating slate to celebrate
October 16, 2006
It’s done. Yesterday I finished grouting the big slate-tiled patio in our back yard. Just in time for rain, cold and soon enough, snow. It sucked. The patio is ginormous. Way bigger than it needs to be. And slate tiles are such a pain in the ass. Uneven, different sizes, not flat, porous–they pretty much are God’s worst tile creation ever, from a DIY patio installer’s point of view. They break pretty easy too (before they’re laid). And I’m quite sure I’ve put in at least 3 full months of my life on my knees on that patio. We’ve spent way more than our beans-n-rice budget would allow (but that was spent pre-Dave Ramsey). The worst part? I’m not really done done. Still need to apply a generous coat of slate tile sealer. Yet another lousy and expensive (to the tune of 70 bucks per bottle–I need three of em) part of this natural stone stuff. I hope my bloody finger tips and knuckles heal up soon (along with my aching back)…
Take 2: It’s done! We fell in love with slate tile when we saw a patio in some friends’ yard on Spring Creek Golf Course a few years ago. We poured a concrete slab in our backyard, out the basement patio door, last fall (thanks Dave, Brooks, Jon and Nick). We bought the tiles on clearance last fall too, but didn’t get them put on until this summer. I finally finished a rough grouting process yesterday (with a little help from my handy bride), and the patio looks awesome. Those natural stone tiles are beautiful. We love the variety of colors and textures and shapes. It’s a big patio, so we’ll have lots of room to put our grill and some furniture out there next year. Once we get our landscaping around it finished, it’ll be our oasis. Hope you come enjoy it with us sometime soon.
October 18, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Congrats on the patio! It looks great & we’ll all be over to have a cook-out as soon as the snow is gone (read Spring!) By the way–if you were also praying all that time when you were on your knees, you really got a lot accomplished.
Love ya,
Mom
October 19, 2006 at 9:18 am
That is absolutely beautiful, breathtaking actually. I love it…do you hire out?
November 8, 2006 at 6:09 pm
Looks awesome.
It kinda puts my flagstone patio to shame. I’ll put up some pics.
April 21, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Where did you guys get your tile?
We love it!
Jon and Cristy
April 21, 2008 at 10:37 pm
parsonsales@hotmail.com
forgot to give you our e-mail address.
Cristy and Jon
April 22, 2008 at 8:43 am
We bought it on clearance at Home Depot, Cristy.
April 22, 2008 at 8:45 am
I’m always curious why this post ends up being so popular. It’s the most visited post on this blog by far. If you’re reading it, please shoot me a comment and let me know what brings you here (I have a hunch it’s mostly people looking to do a little research on a DIY slate tile project…
Thanks for visiting!
April 22, 2008 at 9:43 am
[...] slate tile.’ I put up a post on our d.i.y. slate tile patio project in October of 2006 (see from hating slate to celebrate). As I was shooting an email response to Cristy’s question about our slate tile this morning, [...]
May 7, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Google image search for Home Depot slate turned you up. We are planning a small entry/fireplace insert/guest bath slate project — couple hundred sq feet. We want this rich multi-color look. We finally realized we had to go to HD and pretty much buy it by the box and even switch some tiles around. Ordering it from our tile stores gave us tiles all the same color.
That patio is incredible, worth that backbreaking work! We are having someone do it for us, but plan to do a “dry run” so he will see how to lay it out in a non-random yet random way that enhances the colors.
We’ve printed out your photo to show him, hope that’s ok!
May 8, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Best of luck Nancy! I laid all of our tiles out in our lawn before placing them on the patio so we could achieve the random look. By-the-box gives you patches…
June 21, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Looking for info on slate tile over concrete and found your blog. Nice patio. Have you had any issues with freeze/thaw causing problems with the tile since you put it down? Any tips or things to consider? What kind of sealer did you use and has it worked as well as expected (considering the cost!) Thanks.
June 22, 2008 at 10:57 am
Chris-
Our patio made it through two brutal winters on the prairie so far. I cut an expansion joint in the concrete base and caulked it before laying the tile. I then laid the tile so the center joint ran right on top of the expansion joint. This joint cracked the first winter, as expected. So far no other joints have visibly cracked.
Be sure to get plenty of thinset mortar under those tiles. Due to the uneven nature of slate, I had about 8 tiles pop up after a couple of weeks of laying them down. I had to chip away the mortar and start over. Might be a good idea to smear thinset on the base and the back of uneven tiles before laying them in place.
I’ve had some issues with freezing that have effected individual tiles, particularly on the edges of the patio. Slate is made of hundreds of tiny layers of stone. When water get in between those layers and freezes, the tiles begin to flake. On my patio, I probably have 6 tiles that have begun to flake off in tiny layers–all on the outside edges of the patio. Moral of the story: be sure to get the sealer on the tile edges too.
The sealer is expensive. I can’t remember what brand we used, but it was whatever the staff at Home Depot suggested.
Best of luck Chris!
June 23, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hi, we just bought a bunch of slate tiles also on clearance at Home Depot for our own patio makeover. I love yours! I just have a few questions. How many extra boxes do you think you used to compensate for breakage? What size are your tiles? Is the tile in the picture wet (giving it the bright jewel tones?) and if it is dry does the sealer give it a bright wet look? Our tiles are multi-hued but looks a lot duller (chalky) than yours. And do you get the sealer at Home Depot? Thanks for any info you can give. And again, your patio looks fantastic!
Connie
conniek63@comcast.net
June 27, 2008 at 10:34 am
Hi Connie-
I’m totally making an educated guess here, but I’d say we probably needed only a couple extra boxes for breakage.
We used 13″x13″ tiles. They are NOT really all exactly 13″ square!
The photo above was taken just after a light rain, so the tiles are wet. They don’t look so shiny like that regularly. Chalky is a good adjective. Still looks good.
We did get the sealer at HD too. Good luck!!
July 4, 2008 at 1:35 pm
[...] could. But, a patio set has been the one thing she’s been aching for over the past few years. We finished our patio nearly two years ago, and it’s sat empty except for a few occasional lawn chairs. Empty no more. It only took [...]
July 30, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I came here doing a Google image search for “slate”.
The kind used by students in last century, for writing school stuff. (Still used in some countries today)
Your picture looked so good, I decided to check it out.
August 2, 2008 at 4:47 pm
[...] had a bunch of broken slate tiles left over from our patio project, so it’s now becoming a slate tile topped table. I tiled it this afternoon, and I really [...]