Slate is a natural stone, tiles are manufactured. A ‘slate tile’ is a piece of slate measured, cut and prepared for use as a tile. Slate is a fine-grained metamorphic rock that can be split easily into thin layers; it’s mainly grey in colour, with a wide variety of textures, colour varieties and irregular patterns.
Tiles are made from a variety of hard-wearing materials, usually fired clay and concrete.
They are used for covering surfaces such as roofs, walls and floors, Clay tiles are capable of performing down to pitches as low as 15° (depending on the type of clay tile) whereas slates can only perform down to 25°