The durock has been laid, and the tiles cut and sealed, and I'm ready to start using the medium set to secure the tiles in place, but as I've never laid slate (or any tile) before, I have some questions.

1. The tiles are in place now how I want them, do I have to take up the tiles row by row before I start mortaring them in place, or can I do 1 or 2 tiles at a time?

2. I laid the tiles out starting from the center and working outwards. When I lay the tiles in place do I again start at the center, or do I start from the edges, or doesn't it matter?

3. What is the best way to prevent lippage? As this is slate there is a good amount of variation. Do I just back butter each tile so that it is as high as the highest tile in the room? How do I manage to do that properly?

4. Should I do a chalk-line for each row, or should I just start from one chalk line, and use my spacers from there?

Help with any or all of these questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi -
I laid a slate tile entryway and path from front door to kitchen to avoid carpet wear and paths. The best way I found was to work from the center, trying to butter them as equal as I could, leaving the rest in place. ( That way, you will not have to contort yourself to lay the tile.)
The slate I laid had no real lines, as the tiles I used were of varying shapes and sizes. That gives you leeway when you finally put them in place. I did not use chalk lines. If you have cut the tiles into squares, you do want to use chalk lines to at least keep the lines straight, and spacers to make it look uniform. You may want to use a level to make sure that there is not one stray tile that is too high or low.
Hope this helps.