Slate flooring is a superb choice for entrance areas or areas where the outside elements are readily tracked into a home. Generally speaking, it can be one of the lowest and easiest maintained flooring due to its hard structure and minimal porosity, in spite of the fact that it’s often used in the most demanding of areas.
Keep Your Slate Sealed
Given the microscopic density of slate, the pores by which a foreign staining agent may enter and cause unsightly discoloration are quite small. If you’re diligent about sealing these pores then normal traffic won’t produce any hardship whatsoever for your slate floor. A simple test for a properly sealed floor is exposure to water: if the tile darkens when wet, the floor is not sealed properly; and if the tile remains uniform in color, it is sealed properly.
There are a number of quality sealers that we use, because each application and customer’s appeal can be unique. Some folks like the natural luster or patina of untouched stone and some want a level of sheen that enhances the cleft of the stone or its inherent variegation. With either preference,(and all points in between), we apply sealers that just plain work.
The Ease of Day to Day
As with any flooring, it’s very important to keep sand and dirt off of them as much as possible. Slate flooring is very forgiving and can take some serious abuse but, sooner or later, you’ll see some scratches in the tile if it’s not kept up. This is not due to the slate being soft but, instead, that the pebble in your shoe, plus your weight, created a force that was greater than the static slate tile. Don’t fret if this occurs, Residential Floors can render that scratch invisible–and we promise not to tell your friends about it!
Removing the Build-up
After many years of faithful service to you, your slate floor is going to need a bit of a cosmetic face-lift. This sounds like an ominous task, but it really isn’t. You’ll notice that the perimeter of the floor (no foot traffic) is synthetically shiny in contrast to where the traffic pattern is. This is indicative of a sealer or wax build-up and it needs to be addressed in a more aggressive manner. Residential Floors will scrub and remove all the sealers, wax, soil and residue from the floor and give you a clean, fresh start.
Give us a call from your Maryland/D.C. home and talk to a family of professionals that are dedicated to making your home beautiful.
