Chalkboards

After much ado, the slate is down. I purchased a number of old chalkboards that were salvaged from the old Tacoma Stadium High School from the ReStore last spring. After having to cut and clean old mastic from the surfaces, I ran into some problems with adhesion of the slate chalkboard surface to the thin-set. After having to pull up two sheets and chisel the hardened cement off the floor with a 1.5" cold chisel and a hammer for 2 hours, I swore I would never do tile/stone again. It looks like the instructions on the thin-set tell you to mix the stuff too thick, and with the dry porous slate surface contacting the dry thin-set, I could not get the adhesion needed.

It became clear that I was violating a number of stone installation rules:
Tiles as large as 42"x 42"
Very thin application of thin-set to have floor surface match up with the existing floor
Using old recycled slate blackboards with a very smooth ground surface for adhesion
Having to pull out warped slate with the thin-set adhesion




I now have to seal the slate so I can grout the cracks, seal it again, and we can move the island and stove back into position to have a working kitchen again.