I'm tiling my kitchen with 12" square slate floor tiles. They'll also run through to the hallway. I'm taking off all skirting boards (baseboards) and replacing them after tiling to cover the expansion gap. I'm tiling under moveable appliances and have checked clearances. I have a wet diamond wheel cutter for cutting and it seems to work well.
One thing I'm concerned about is where the slate tiles meet the bottom of the kitchen units - I believe it's called the "kickboard". What's the standard procedure for dealing with this? Do I tile right up against it? Do I leave a gap and grout it?
I'd tile under the plinth and stop somewhere between that and the feet. If you plan it well, you can even avoid needing to cut the tiles. Obviously, the plinth needs to be cut down to fit.
I would do as you say - remove the baseboards and tile up to about 1/8 to 2/8 from the wall and cover that gap (expansion gap) with the baseboard. You will get a more professional looking job with the baseboard over the tile instead of being locked into it with grout and have that expansion gap which could prevent tiles from popping up in the event of movement (such as can be caused by thermal expansion). Also, if you remove the baseboards, its possible to upgrade them. Usually builder supplied ones are pretty plain. You can find ones with a little more height and detail at a molding supply store (the ones at places like Home Depot are often dented and there isnt much selection).
For you appliances, if you choose not to tile under them, make sure that you dont lock them into their position so that they cant be removed to be replaced or serviced. For instance, if you tile right up to the feet, it might not be possible to screw the feet back up into the unit to get the clearance to pull it out (ie, for a dishwasher).
I have found the best free tiling advice at the John Bridge forum at
Alan, I had to consider what you are doing a couple of years ago. I have the slate tiles running underneath the kick boards for several cm and then it's the concrete beyond that. The kickboards were ripped along the lengths to narrow them and refitted. The floor is relatively flat, although not perfectly so since the slate is riven and not sawn on the top surface. Any small gaps of a mm or two are not really noticable since they are dark.
The same thing was done with skirting boards - the old ones were removed, the tiling was taken to the wall and they were replaced with oak skirtings.
Regarding the thresholds, I think that you could do either. I have slate in my conservatory, kitchen, cloakroom and hallway and it is tiled continuously throughout; although the kitchen/conservatory door is an exterior grade design. This does give continuity throughout.
I have hardwood floors in my lounge and dining room and these are at a slightly higher level than the slate. There is therefore an oak threshold strip which is approximately 180mm wide and is planed to form a slope to match the two levels - i.e. there is a gentle transition from slate to threshold to main wood floor. This also blends together well and looks good.
I think you could do a hardwood threshold strip if you wanted to between two areas of slate floor and it would look fine as well. I would suggest either making it the same level as the slate all the way across, or if you do want a higher level in the centre of the threshold, chamfer each side to slope down to the slate rather than creating a step. This would a) be a trip hazard and b) get dinged and start to look beaten up.
I wouldn't have a threshold below the level of the slate. That will look funny, be a trip hazard and a dirt trap.
The other comment I would make regarding grout is that grey rather than white is a good idea. First of all it doesn't stand out so much and secondly it doesn't look grubby. This may be influenced by the slate colours of course...
If you would like to see an illustration of a hardwood threshold, drop me an email and I can send you a photo.
Utter nonsense. Grout is used for any number of things. Look at the baseplate on a city light standard sometime for instance. Heavy machinery is set with grout, etc..
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