a new (slate!) floor!!!

First... the gosh-awful carpeting in a crowded front porch... I'm sure that part of the awfulness stems from the not very cleaned up porch that resulted from the door-installation fiasco of the previous weekend (pictures of that forthcoming in the next week or so, too)



Did you say you wanted a close-up of that?
Welll....
OK...





After removing the carpet, I see that there's a lovely cement slab base to start from!!! (actually, I knew that already or else I wouldn't have sprung for the slate tiles)




So I lay out my tools... before this (I didn't post a picture of it, but I have one if you are interesed) I opened the boxes of slate tiles & set them all out on my driveway, where I hosed them off, let them dry and then sprayed them with their first coat of pre-grout sealant.


Took a short coffee/tea break after laying down 20+ square feet of slate....






Apparently took (a very important) break just 8 tiles later...






Phew. Here's what the floor looked like after ~8 hours of tile-laying. Each of these tiles had been handled no fewer than 6 times before being installed... carried to car, set out on driveway for clean & seal, carried in to porch for Layout #1, rearranged into current layout, moved over & out of the porch so I could start installing, and finally each one picked up and back-buttered for maximum stickage & tile-eveness...
Yep. those are the *technical* terms ;)



The (almost) final product... it's been grouted with a lovely "pewter" colored grout and is currently curing so that I can put 2-3 coats of another sealant on.... I'm thinking I will use one that will give a *slight* shine to the tiles without actually making them super glossy...