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Slate

A few weeks ago I stopped by Second Use, one of our favorite salvage yards in Seattle. They had a lot of slate from two old Seattle High Schools that are being renovated. Being a teacher, I immediately wanted to pick out the biggest and nicest piece they had to bring home. Since I didn't have the van, I waited until Nick got home later that  week.

It took a little longer for us to get back there, but luckily when we did, they still had plenty left. We have to clean it up, build a frame, and then it is going to be installed at "Atticus height" in the upstairs hallway.  Many years from now when we get to remodeling the basement hallway and convert it into a cool library setting, we will install the chalkboard down there now.

Modern chalkboards are pretty, but they're not the same as the good ol', thick slate. Hopefully this weekend I will get to refurbishing the surface and I'll post some photos. I'll have to go and pick up some chalk soon...

Posted: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7:43 AM by Trissa

Comments

Derek said:

I thought you were talking about slate floors. That sounds cool, real slate chaulkboard. I don't think they had those where I went to school, I remember them painting the surface.

# September 19, 2007 11:12 AM

kris said:

Old slate is a great find! We installed some in our kitchen and love it. We also put some steel behind it to magnetize it.

# September 19, 2007 8:45 PM

Trissa said:

How thick is the slate? I'm wondering if the steel would work with ours. I'm sure we have a piece of steel around somewhere I could test it with. Thanks for sharing the idea!

# September 19, 2007 9:16 PM

Kris said:

we like ours and we think that our kid will have fun with it in about a year or so also.

Ours is a bit under 3/8" thick.  It is also out of an old school.  I mounted a piece of 18ga sheet metal to the back using PL400 construction adhesive, letting it dry overnight and then used the same PL to glue it to the wall.  The most fun was renewing the surface by sanding it through like 3 different grits.  It looked like new.

The only magnets that work well though are the rare earth magnets.  The stone seems to do a good job of blocking magnatism.

# September 21, 2007 4:57 PM

jimmy said:

on a beach and I have slate floors and I do need to do something as thay are stained and discolored in places and looks like they were never cared for, the slate is also in a shower and it has something that looks like rust.  I hate to rip it up but I have no idea how to renew iy or take care of it.  Jimmy

# September 27, 2007 1:06 PM

researcher said:

Some slate has iron content. The rust on such slate will be unavoidable if it gets wet. I suppose it could be sanded and sealed but that seems iffy.

# December 22, 2007 9:51 AM
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