Hi. I have seen these slabs for sale which I think would look nice on my driveway, however, after reading about the problems on your site,I'm not so sure! They will be laid down on 4" concrete base, which will be used for driving motorcycles into my garage, there maybe a car parked/worked on in the future. My main concern is the fading, should I be concerned or just lay them & seal it afterwards?
Thanks for all replies.
Black limestone slabs
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Bec@LondonStone
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 5:15 pm
- Location: London
Hi, the Black Limestone will definitely fade over time (usually fairly quickly) so if you are wanting to keep the colour as dark as possible then you will need to seal the stone with a colour enhancer. It's easier to do this before the stone is installed because the stone will need to be completely dry before you apply the sealant and this is more easily achieved if you have a garage or somewhere to store the slabs indoors. Otherwise, it's almost spring (finally!) so you could lay the stone and then wait for a period of dry weather to carry out the sealing. If you do it this way, you're best waiting about 5 weeks or so after installation to make sure your stone doesn't show signs of efflorescence. We make sure to warn all our clients about the colour fade with Black Limestone and some of them decide to leave it au naturale and then find that they quite like the grey colour after the stone has faded. Others decide they prefer it darker, in which case you can seal retrospectively. We recommend Dry Treat 'Intensifia' which will need to be reapplied every 5 years or so. If you're going to use the driveway for cars/motorcycles then it's worth considering an additional application of Dry Treat 'Stain Proof'. This won't help with the colour but it will offer some protection against oil stains etc. and lasts for around 15 years when properly applied. Obviously the Black Limestone won't tend to show up the oil marks like a pale stone would but the 'Stain Proof' will make them easier to clean off at any rate. Hope this helps 
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hayabusaman
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2015 6:33 pm
- Location: Northamptonshire
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Bec@LondonStone
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 5:15 pm
- Location: London
No problem, Paul. Slate will definitely hold its colour better. Quality-wise it does vary (as with any stone) from supplier to supplier. The slate that we sell comes from China but it's a good quality version and doesn't delaminate like the lesser quality stuff. The best thing to do is to find out if your supplier has a display you can view or if they'll let you have a look at their current stock to check the quality before you order.