Slate is a fine-grained rock formed by the composition of mud and stone sediment. Being a natural material, slate is found beneath the earth's surface in many countries throughout the world. Most of it commercially comes from the quarries in India, China, Africa, Brazil, USA and Italy. Here, you can know just about everything related to slate stone, right from its chemical & physical properties to its installation and maintenance.
Varieties of Slate Stone
A major building material, slate has a solid beauty, which is used for visual harmony with the stone buildings and the drystone walls. Slate stones are available with different levels of porosity, hardness and compressive strength. Most slates are suitable for exterior and interior applications.
Slate is extremely beautiful and more cost effective than most other wall and floor coverings. It renders a very graceful, natural finish to any building or home. All natural slate stones are fireproof and non-slippery.
Uses
It is used in architecture, making of sculptures, masonry, roofing etc. It is also used in flooring and wall cladding. The harder varieties of slate are used for flooring.
Varieties of colors
Slate stone is distinguished on the basis of colors and there is indeed a large variety of colored slate stones. The usual colors of slate are black, dark grey, greenish grey, copper and purplish grey. Sometimes color changes do occur due to weathering. Other colors are sunflame, lilac, jeera polished, copper pink, multi-colour golden quartzite, panther, green pink, multicolor dark slate, multicolor light slate, multi green, Taj rose, autumn lilac etc.
Finishes
It comes in variety of finishes, rough or can be provided with natural non-skid surface by rubbing it to plain or finished with clear varnish after fixing.
Slate Stone Textures
Slate stone texture refers to the distinctive physical composition or structure of the stone, especially with respect to the size, shape and arrangement of its parts. Texture usually refers to the natural stone properties but of late, artificial techniques are used to bring about a variety to the range of slate stone. The surfaces may be sawn, hammered, sand blasted, honed, polished or flamed.
Heavy Textures
Heavy Textures are mostly utilized for rustic design needs and for slip resistance and most of them benefit from treatment with repellents. The major kind of heavy textures are:
- Split face: Rough surface texture, rustic.
- Saw-cut: Rough saw finish, saw marks visible.
- Flamed: Damp stone spalled by acetylene torch.
- Sandblasted: Pitted, roughness depends upon grit used.
Smooth Textures
Smooth texture is imparted to the slate stone, which can be classified as below:
- Honed: Being smooth to touch but not reflective, honed flooring surfaces do not show wear damage as dramatically as polished surfaces do and therefore are more economically maintained than polished surfaces.
- Polished: Distinguished by mirror finish achieved by abrasive process, polished surfaces are ideally suited to low abrasive areas and historically are best utilized as vertical surfaces. If polished surfaces are used as flooring, restoration type processes become a normal part of regular maintenance.
Slate Stone Edges
Slate stone edges refer to the borders put on the rims of various slate stone products. Used to enhance the appearance of the ceiling, flooring or any other exterior or interior looks, edges can be chamfered or bevelled. Classic slate edge detailing can be done on a honed, eased edge. Edges help taking off the sharpness taken at the top and bottom. Different edge profiles suit different kinds of slates stylistically, from a performance point of view. Each edge profile is available with different types of finishes and textures.
Edges may be classified under the following heads on the basis of techniques used to make them:
- Chamfered Edges: Edges may be chamfered or beveled by using the process of Chamfering, which is a simple process in which a polishing brick is run at an angle of 45 °. Chamfering removes whiteness and chipped edges. Joints of chamfered edges are easier to clean (e.g. kitchen platforms).
- Machine cut/sawn Edges: Ensuring standardized sizes and designs, the machine cut or machine sawn edges are the most popular and economically priced edges. Made by using hot rolling cutter blade, the machines sawn edges are very smooth and make the tiles or slabs to fit perfectly.
- Hand chiseled/hand dressed Edges: Finding immense usage in exterior walls and pavements, the tiles with hand chiseled edges are as smooth as the natural surface finish. Professionally worked to achieve the required smoothness, these edges are in high demand.
Useful Links for Slate Stone:
