How to lighten a slate floor?

Gillwooldrdige

Hi Interested to know if anyone has sucessfully lime -washed or ligthened a darker slate floor .

This apparently is the result possible ? The floor is currently the 70 s browns slate

EricL

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's wonderful to have you join us and thank you for sharing your question about lightening the colour of your slate floor.

I believe that there is a method to it, but I think it will require the services of a slate flooring specialist. They will have the knowledge and experience to do it properly. They will need to assess your current flooring and then possibly do a test to see if lime washing will give you the colour that you're after. Slate is a porous material and anything you put on top it will get absorbed by the slate unless it has been sealed previously. I don't recommend doing this as a first time D.I.Y project.

Let me call on some of our experienced members @redbournreno, @lifestylebymari, @craftyhopper and @Peggers for their opinion on lime washing slate flooring.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

redbournreno

Hi @Gillwooldrdige,

I agree with @EricL here. I wouldn't recommend you try this as a DIY project. I've never done it but believe it should be possible.

Get a slate flooring specialist in. I presume you will need to have the current sealer completely ground off the surface before using a tinted sealer that will soak in to counteract the old colours. Like a lime wash as you say.

We would love to hear what you find out!