More Slate

Several months ago I was walking through the local home improvement center and I saw they just got in two pallets of black slate. These were 1X2 foot pieces about ¼-inch thick. I had never seen slate offered here before and I thought it would be great to go under the 1890s cast iron stove.

I ran home and took some measurements of the stove and the area in the kitchen where it would go and went right back and bought enough slate to cover the area. The woman at the store told me they had only gotten this slate in once before and it moved fast the last time. I didn’t want to miss out. As it turned out she was right. The next time I went in a few weeks later there was only about a half pallet left.

Months went by and I eventually put in the floor and then laid down the slate, and several weeks later I installed the stove. My focus at the time was everything but how hot the stove would get and how much clearance from the wall I would need. I realized after everything was in I did not get enough slate.

I went back to the home center and both pallets were long gone and they hadn’t gotten any more in. I was to trying to come up with alternatives like a tile boarder or adding something to the back. I was in the tile area of the home center looking at what was available when I saw stacked in one corner 8 pieces of slate. It was the very last of the 2 pallets. I was saved. I quickly snatched up enough to expand the area under the stove and today was the day I put it in. As it is I’m waiting for glue to dry.

I had to pry up the 1/4-round boarder, re-cut new boarder, and then lay the new slate. The slate is not a uniform thickness across all pieces, or even across a single piece. For this reason I put down stone dust first to level each piece separately.

Next I need to paint the new 1/4-round and then dismantle the stove and reposition it. This stove weighs a ton - not an exaggeration - so I will need help for that.