Riven slate tile advice - TilersForums.com

[jayfigs]

HI FROM NEW MEMBER IN BRIGHTON.
RECENTLY BOUGHT NEW SLATE TILES FOR KITCHEN EXTENSION AND NOT SURE OF THE QUALITY. THE SAMPLE TILES WE GOT THRU THE POST LOOKED LOVELY SO WE PARTED WITH THE BEST PART OF 700 QUID TO FINISH THE FLOOR. WHAT WAS DELIVERED LOOKS PRETTY AWFUL. APART FROM NEARLY A THIRD OF THE 600 X 600 BEING CRACKED OR BROKEN, THE FINISH LOOKS AWFUL. SOME ARE PITTED WITH PARTICLE FALLING OUT, OTHERS HAVE BIG STEPS WITH RAZOR SHARP EDGES THAT COULD SLICE THE BOTTOM OF YOUR FOOT OFF! IS THIS HOW THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO LOOK BEFORE BEING FITTED? AND WILL THE TILER SAND THESE SHARP BITS DOWN TO MAKE IT SAFER AS PART OF THE INSTALLATION...
WONDERING IF I SHOULD SEND THE WHOLE LOT BACK .
AWAITING YOUR EXPERT ADVICE
jayfigs, Brighton

 

[Ian]

Welcome along to TF. A few pictures are really going to help here, just to see exactly how bad this stone is.

 

[cam_low]

The tiles need to be graded thick to the and then the tiler, a real one not a guy who says he can tile, will fix them in accordance with your substrate.

Buying online can cause a while host of issues. What you are describing doesn't sound good at all but if you can get some pictures up then you will get a more correct reply.

 

[jayfigs]

I'm getting the camera out now

 

[jayfigs]

Here are a couple of examples

 

[cam_low]

Well at the end of the day it's a natural product. All riven slate will have undulating surfaces and be of different thicknesses. I would be concerned about the broken pieces. There looks to be some nice colours there that will come up lovely when sealed with a colour enhancer.

 

[jlktiling]

You will get some tiles like this as it is the nature of slate, but i would go through the lot of them, pull out the ones which are unaceptable, and get the shop you bought them from to exchange them.
any good retailer will do this for you.

 

[Brian the Tile]

thats the way the slate is im afraid ,but if you have a lot of broken ones i would send the whole lot back,some your tiler would be able to use for cuts but if there are a lot ,welly you havent paid for broken tiles ,i have doe a lot of them floors and they do look good when complete ,colour enchaced and sealed you will have a good looking floor

 

[cam_low]

You will get some tiles like this as it is the nature of slate, but i would go through the lot of them, pull out the ones which are unaceptable, and get the shop you bought them from to exchange them.
any good retailer will do this for you.

If you reread they were bought online !

 

[jlktiling]

Well that's the problem with buying online.
Cowboys making a quick buck.
Support your independent retailers. They are the ones in the know and not as expensive as you think.
This wouldn't have happened if they were bought from an independent. If it did, I'm sure they would sort it double quick.