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]

Hello @Gillwooldrdige 

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!