With the rising trend in black kitchens, slate is becoming a much more commonly used natural stone within the home. You may associate slate with fireplaces or roof tiles. In the modern home, however, it can often be found as floor tiles. Like any natural stone, slate needs to be looked after to make sure that it endures. So, if you have decided to jump on the black kitchen trend, we’ve got some advice for how to clean slate floors and other tips to help you to keep it looking it’s best.
To understand how to clean slate and care for it properly, you should first understand what it is. Slate is a metamorphic rock meaning that it has been formed under intense pressure. As a sedimentary rock it is formed from sandstone, shale, or mudstone. Consequently each slate tile is never quite the same. It is often thought of as only being black or grey in colour, but surprisingly slate can also be found as dark green, burgundy, or even as a colourful mixture.
The texture of slate is usually referred to as ‘riven’. This means that it naturally has bumps, ridges, and a more rugged appearance than other types of natural stone. Slate is a very strong stone; despite this, due to lamination, it can also be very brittle if pressure is exerted in the wrong way. Needless to say, knowledge of how to care for slate through cleaning and maintenance can protect it from unnecessary damage.
With this in mind, we want to share with you three easy tips to help you care for and clean your slate floor and ensure that it can withstand the test of time.
Any liquid spillages should be dealt with quickly, but you must also try to keep your slate floor as dry as possible when cleaning. Our suggested method to achieve this is to use a dry Swiffer head mop with a silicone molt net spray daily. This is a great stone cleaning hack! The spray will attract any dirt that is sitting on the surface of the stone. When used daily it can prevent dirt particles getting trapped inside the stone’s natural pores. This reduces the need for regular wet cleaning. The head of this mop is also soft enough when dry that it will not risk scratching or damaging the surface of your clean slate floor.
Every so often, you may feel like your floor requires a wet mop to properly disinfect. The best mop for stone floors, including slate, is a heavy-duty Kentucky mop. Using this in combination with a ladybug bucket will make for an easy clean. It will also help to ensure that you don’t over wet your slate floor. Stone is porous, and any water that sits on the surface of your slate floor reduces the life span of any wax and stone sealants used. Over wetting can therefore lead to vulnerability. The ladybug bucket has a wringer that can reduce the amount of moisture on the mop head and reduce the risk of over wetting. Investing in good quality products will be more cost effective in the long run. These products usually much more hard wearing.
So what detergent should you use in your mop water? Much like other natural stone, slate can be sensitive to acidic substances. When you clean your slate floor, you should only use pH neutral cleaners. Unfortunately, most common household cleaners have an acidic formula and can damage the surface of your stone. Alternatively, they may boast an alkaline formula, which is safe for slate but can reduce the lifespan of stone sealants and surface wax.
Fila offer a great range of natural stone floor cleaning products that are pH neutral. We recommend their products to all our clients, but our stone care experts can advise on the best products specifically for your bespoke maintenance programme. ‘Fila Cleaner’ is a great option for disinfecting slate floors, and you can easily dilute this with your mop water. It also doesn’t have an impact on the durability of your natural stone’s sealants and surface wax.
If you have furniture placed directly on slate it can scratch and wear away the surface. As slate is layered, this can leave unsightly marks and possible dips. This is where the top layer of the slate wears away. Due to the lamination of the stone, these depressions can be even more obvious as they expose the layers of your slate. The best way to avoid this is by ensuring the feet of your furniture don’t sit directly on your slate floor.
Some people like to place rugs under their furniture to avoid contact with their stone. Hiding away the beauty of your stone can feel like such a waste! We suggest that you use felt pads or silicone coasters on the feet of furniture. This ensures that your stone surface is protected, but you can still show off your beautiful slate floor.
Your own feet can also be treacherous to your slate floor! Shoes can pick up small stones and other abrasive material that can scratch and damage the stone surface. You might consider using good quality entrance mats at all entrance ways that lead in from outdoors. For the best result, install matts either side of the entrance. Good quality internal and external matting with help to remove as much dirt and grit as possible from shoes. Alternatively, you could ask that everyone removes their shoes before walking through the house. This is probably the better options as it removes the problem of anything you pick up on your shoes coming into contact with your slate floor.
Simply by following these three recommendations, your slate floor will continue to boast beauty and class. However, when your stone needs any specialist treatment, Athena Stonecare are on hand to help. As experts in natural stone care, we want to make sure that your stone continues to endure elegantly within your home. That doesn’t just mean restoring your stone when things go wrong, but also helping you to maintain it.
We are always happy to hear from you if you have any questions about your natural stone. However, we want to make sure you are equipped to look after your stone without being an expert.
To support you with this, we are delighted to present our new Athena Aftercare guide. Packed with tips and advice for maintaining natural stone, the guide was created to help our clients to care for their stone as part of a bespoke maintenance regime. We would also like to share it with anyone who is lucky enough to have a slate floor or any natural stone in their home.
If you would like a copy of Athena Aftercare, simply contact us here.
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