Slate Kitchen Floor - need maintenance advice please

[Earlybird]

I had a slate floor installed in my kitchen a few years ago. I vaguely remember that it was sealed initially with linseed oil (can that be right?), and that I was instructed that it needed to be sealed again at some point. Can anyone tell me if it does, in fact, need to be sealed again, and with what? Also, where would I purchase whatever I need to seal it with? And how do you "seal" a floor? And finally, how should it be cleaned? Think my cleaner has just been using soapy water, but am not sure if that is the way to go. Thanks in advance for your help....

bump - for any of you daytime DIY and housecleaning demons! Need help/advice please!

We are planning on fitting a slate flooring in our kitchen. Would you recommend it or should we go for something else?
I'll keep an eye on this thread for cleaning and sealing suggestions too.

We have a slate floor and we sealed it with something called "HG impregnator". We got it from the flooring showroom, but you can probably find it online. HG also do various products you can wash the floor with. Have to admit that we use Flash, and haven't re-sealed the floor in over 4 years!

Kid, I wouldn't get slate again, unless you really are keen on the look! It is difficult to keep clean (but then because of the texture you don't see the dirt as much)and I keep tripping over the raised bits! Maybe it would be better if we had got the more expensive and less rustic-looking flat style!

We were looking at the the smoother type of slate flooring. I have seen it in Top Tiles (I think) but it costs £1.98 per tile, so I think we will shop around a bit.
I was also concerned about my active 2 year old falling and getting a nasty bump on it. We have a wooden effect lino at the moment but it needs replacing.

Tops Tiles sell the HG impregnator. We were advised by our tiler that this was one of the best products to seal a slate floor. I think it was less than £10 for a litre bottle which does quite a large area. I have it in my downstairs loo and have only ever washed it with soapy water or flash.

Earlybird in addition to sealing the floor we also used a polish (bought in B&Q or somewhere) which gives the tiles a bit of a wet look. We've not had any problems with it so far it just gets hoovered or brushed and then mopped (bit of flash in the bucket).

For slate, I recommend Lithofin MN Stainstop. But you will need to properly remove whatever was already put on the stone. If you contact these guys they can give you good reliable info on how/what to do.