Slate is a metamorphic rock that is layered. Commonly when people think about slate, they think about dark, rough, and rustic, but it doesn't necessarily need to be like that. An outdoor/ indoor product, it’s great to install in your home or out on the patio because you can feel the texture of the stone under your feet. Like all stone, it can be heated with floor heating coils that heat tiles for that toasty feeling on bare toes. It’s great for someone looking for that rugged mountain look.
Clay or volcanic ash settles and becomes a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock through heat and pressure. When it’s cut by an expert, this rock splits beautifully to form smooth flat sheets of stone. Slate quarries will produce gorgeous slabs ranging in their density and quality. Each region produces its own qualities:
China: Chinese Slates have a variety of colors. One of the first slates to enter the Canadian market is Rustic Earth (China-Multi).
Indian: Indian Slates have two distinct regions. Northern slates are more metallic looking; they often shine because of the Mica in them. They are also commonly called polished when they are in fact honed, due to their look. Some stones will be dotted with garnets. Southern slates are usually softer. Currently, the top selling slate is the Driftwood (Indian Autumn)
Brazil: Brazilian slates are very dense, and are the only slates that are perfect squares and perfect thickness. This is due to the density of the stone.
Africa: African Slates often have a distinctive burnt red earth colour mixed in with the grey and browns. African Slates are un-guaged, meaning the thicknesses are not very consistent.
Description
Slate is frequently grey in color expressing itself in dark midnight hues of black and dusk gray, but can be quite light also. The Chinese Dakar is almost a mother or pearl tone. You will also see warm roses, sedate grays, cool aqua tinged blue greys in Chinese, Indian and Brazilian slates. Rich golds and bold burnt reds, such as those found in ‘Molten lava’ or ‘Safari gold’ are indicative of South Africa. That silvery shimmer you sometimes see comes from Mica.
Installation Tip
Dense stone like slate is better for outdoors. Rustic Earth, Savana, Brazilian slate, Dakar, and Gold Star are often recommended for patios.
Styles
- Honed: A honed stone means a smooth surfaced stone
- Calibrated (semi-gauged): one side is natural and other side is cut
- Natural: (un-gauged)
- Ledgestone: A stacking stone used in vertical applications where the majority of stress is on the stone itself.
* Note: Brazilian stone is all gauged because it is perfectly cut and square
Sizes
- Mostly 12x12 and 16x16. Some are 18x18 (Gold Sunset and Brazilian), and 12x24 (only the most popular colors). 24x24 available in 2 blacks and Savanna.
