Granite tile at AllGraniteHome.com

• Granite tile in interior decoration
• Slate has a wild side
• Tile Sealers
• Stone for all surfaces
• Granite Tiles: Sizes, textures, and prices
• Stone Tips

Slate has a wild side

Slate has a wild side. It's known mainly as the dependably dark gray material of roof tiles, flagstone walks, and old school blackboards. But new access to quarries in countries around the world--from Wales to Africa and China--now makes it possible to find slate in a subtle rainbow of colors as well.

Technically, slate is a dense, fine-grain, clayey metamorphic rock that splits readily into thin but durable slabs. Minerals present in the rock cause its colors to vary widely--often within a single tile. Made up of layers, slate has a naturally uneven texture and a less formal look than surface-ground granite or marble, but its durability and colorful visual complexity make it a handsome and affordable alternative to those materials.

Slate is either "gauged" or "ungauged." Gauged slate has gone through a grinding machine--usually to smooth out only the bottom side, leaving the top (or "cleft") side alone. Gauged tiles are either 1/4 or 1/2 inch thick; you can lay them directly on a quick-setting mastic, as you would ceramic tile. Ungauged tiles are uneven on both sides, range from 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick, and are usually laid in a mortar base. Slate can be cut with a masonry saw.