Slate is Great

Raja Multi 16”x16” Indian slate tile installed in a kitchen and dining room area – Terrific!

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I found this item for sale on sell.com classifieds. This would be a really neat focal point to a slate installation!

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Providing life safety and property protection is a significant part of a building’s design and construction process, and one of the primary focuses of building codes. Many jurisdictions have now adopted a code based on the recent edition of the new International Building Code (IBC).

However, most of the fire safety provisions of the IBC were developed using the least stringent requirements of each of the three previously published model building codes. Building and safety experts are concerned that the current minimum requirements for fire safety – especially for multi-residential structures such as town-houses, dormitories, assisted living facilities, small hotels, etc., may not provide enough protection for the elderly, college students, disabled persons, and families dwelling in these units.

Click on the logo above for the full article by Steve Szoke.

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In Québec, slate has been quarried south of the St. Lawrence River. The Appalachian Province includes several slate deposits of Cambrian, Ordovician and Devonian ages. Most of the production comes from the quarries of the Kingsbury (Estrie) and Saint-Marc-du-Lac-Long (Bas-Saint-Laurent) areas.

Slate exploitation began soon after 1854 in Estrie. The production was intensive from 1903 to 1909. Then it slowed regularly and came to a complete stop in 1923. Production statistics have been registered in a fragmented way. The extracted material was almost entirely used to produce roofing slate.

In 1995, the slate production started again with the opening of the Glendyne quarry in Bas-Saint-Laurent. Since then, slate has regained popularity, mainly with European and American clients who appreciate its aesthetic value in their buildings.

To explore the Gouvernement du Québec website on this subject, please click here.

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Schluter®-DITRA is a polyethylene membrane with a grid structure of square, cut-back cavities and an anchoring fleece laminated to its underside. In conjunction with tiled coverings, Schluter®-DITRA forms an uncoupling, waterproofing, and vapor pressure equalization layer. Click here for the video (hosted by YouTube).

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California Gold 16″x16″ Indian slate tile, installed on a patio in Maryland. I have already featured this beautiful patio, in a previous POTW - The photo this week contains rather more slate and less of the snazzy furniture, lamps and urns…

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Even though slate is found in many areas of the United States, the eastern states were the main producers - Maine, New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Today, slate production is to all intents and purposes restricted to Vermont and Pennsylvania. The slate industry suffered the same severe decline, and for the same reasons, as the slate industry in Wales.

To read the full article, please click here.

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‘Put it on the slate’ and ‘Wipe the slate clean’.

Back in the UK, workers used to be paid on Friday and by Monday had very little money left. So if they wanted to drink during the week they would ask the landlord to ‘put it on the slate’. The landlord would put the customer initials on the blackboard and by the side of it, the number of drinks that had been consumed. The following Friday the customer would pay his bill and the landlord would ‘wipe the slate clean’.

So, to put something on the slate means to get credit; to wipe the slate clean means to clear one’s debts.

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Don’t know how to go about cutting slate tile? Read an article here.

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Click here for part 1 of 5 of this informative instructional video.

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