indian sandstone

[Yekal]

I am wanting to put a natural floor down over wet underfloor heating, I originaly want york flagstone, but this is out of the budget, I have seen advertised on the net indian sandstone which they say looks like york. What I woul like to know, has anybody seen these and are they like york?, is it suitable for indoor use over underfloor heating?, basicaly is it worth going for or should I go for something else? any suggestions around £15 per sqM, need approx. 46 sqM Thanks

[Kevin Brady]

Post the link - I bought a slate alternative for outdoors recently - really pleased wiith it but I'm sure the seller told me THAT was Indian sandstone. Well my stuff looked just like slate, not York flags.

Cheers

KB, Oxford

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes, yes, yes,

But 15 a square is optimistic.

I reckon £50-100 a square, laid, sealed, grouted etc.

I paid about 23 a meter for raw mixed size flags, on a 50 sq meter puyrcahse.

Ive used it outside, and teh stuff I used was possibly too thuick and too uneven to yuse inside...YMMV. The material itself is very useable, but think about stain stopping as well in a kitchen.

[AlexW]

I have used inside and outside, and for copings too! It's great stuff, last lot I got (last month) was £16+vat per m2 locally in cheshire (15m2 purchase), its available a bit cheaper if you shop around, but then the delivery may be more.

You really need to get the best stones for indoors and it will raise the level of floor by min of 60mm so you're into new skirts and arcs etc.

It's difficult to get a straight edge at the wall so you may have to live with gaps under the skirts or take the time to scribe them to the floor.

For under floor heaitng I guess that you will need a full mortar bed which means you'll be mixing a lot of mortar to lay them on.

They look good indoors, York-ish effect, we get positive comments from visitors often. But seal well, esp in kitchen as TNP suggested - its worth the effort. We missed a trick in one room and will be doing the whole thing again!

HTH,

Alex

[The Natural Philosopher]

No,m use tile cement designed for stone - ardurit is the best. Full bed definitely recommended tho - no dot and dab or you will have loose flags.

[AlexW]

If you're talking indian sandstone flags dot and dab, on 5:1 sharp/gritsand to cement will work indoors once pointed they won't wobble ... mine have been down for over 2 years without single a problem.

For underfloor heating, or outdoors a full bed of whatever is required (I have some dabbed flags and full beds outdoors and one or two have had wobbles and/or sound hollow).

I recon that for for 46 m2 of flags your into around 1.5m3 of bedding ... how pricey is ardurit?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not a lot more than sand/cement.

[The Natural Philosopher]

not a lot more

Oh, and that's because you can use it in THINNER layers than cement - down to about 5mm, which mortar is not too good at.

I'd use sand/cement on thick beds 20-25mm, but if you have a height problem, you don't want to do that.

[AlexW]

Any figures percentile wise? Interested for future ref. Could not dig up prices from a (albeit half hearted) google.

Never tried it that thin so can't comment. But expect you might be right.

IMO it would be pretty impractical to lay a level indian stone flag floor with only 5mm clearance unless you are very sure of the sub base levels and have sorted the flags thickness wise. The flags I have had vary from around 20 mm to 45 mm.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Thats why I said 'down to about 5mm'

I used it on uneven screed from 5mm to nearly 30mm.

I think the prodct is about the same price as cement, or a litttle more: Certainly using it that thick brought my material costs including stoppers grouts and sealers up 50% or more on the base sandstone price.

I would have used mortar in the thicker bits if I hadn't been nervous about its non slump properties. I ended up using Arduriut rapid set, because it set faster than the slabs settled..and I could work on a line I had laid 3-4 hours earlier.

[Yekal]

Thanks all that has given me some good guidence, height at the moment is no problem, as this is a convertion of an old stone building.

[cs]

I bought around 15m2 of mixed Indian brown sandstone cobbles from Rock Unique, who also supplies flags in many sizes:

stuff, excellent prices, and great company to deal with. Ordered on Thursday July 28, and delivered from London to Edinburgh on Monday Aug 1.

The delivery set me back £135 in addition to the cost of the cobbles, however it still was far cheaper than anything I found locally. Local suppliers said 2-4 weeks delivery for similar stuff, nevermind having to buy "full packs" from for example Keyline!!!

I'll be happy to drop you a picture of my project if you like (still have a bit to go though :-) .