Black limestone indian flag for hearth - sealing?

[NotMyName]

In short i have 3no. 900x600 black limestone indian flags which will be for my hearth.
They have white pasty marks on them straight from the crate. Every single flag in every single crate had these marks. They're not scratches, just pasty marks.

My mother has had black limestone flags down for her hearth & they're a deep black colour. Not wet & shiny, but deep black. This is the look i want to achieve.

I believe i need a colour enhancer? But with so many on the market, where do i start? That's the problem.

[lutonlagerlout]

is it too late to change them for slate?
black limestone is notorious for fading
i wont touch it with a shitty stick
LLL

[NotMyName]

No it's not too late at all.

Are they notorious for fading whilst laid INSIDE the house though?

Everything i read about them fading is all about them being outside, which is fair enough. But these will be inside.

Furthermore, my mother had her log burner installed 3, maybe 4 years ago even & she had black limestone flags laid down after i had told her how good they look when wet.

Now granted, i never saw what they were like when the guy brought them in and i never saw what he applied to them because they weren't there when i left for work at the time but they were finished when i returned....

however, 3-4 years on, they still look a nice deep black. I would happily whip them up & lay them down for my own right now. They look great.





On a side note, i had access to some colour enhancer samples from Resiblock which i applied to my mothers flags after a while to see the effect. Looked perfectly fine.
However when i emailed Resiblock yesterday, they said their products are for EXterior use only, not interior. I'll be back in touch asking why.

[RAPressureWashing]

Nearly all Resiblock products are for external use, IE the solvents that are in them, Lithofin or Miracle do internal colour enhancing sealers.

[NotMyName]

I was able to get some of the Resiblock colour enhancer as my mum still had some left over.

So i ran it on a test piece & sure it darkened the flag, but it didn't remove the marking. In other areas it darkened it, but when it dried out you couldn't tell. Only when water was put on the flag. In short the Resiblock stuff hasn't turned out well at all.

The test piece with the WD40 on the other hand is still dark black. I'm not convinced by WD40 though.

There was a sealant/colour enhancer that was only a couple of letters or so but i forget the name. LP? LTP? LHP? I forget. I can't find it now but when i was searching there seemed to be a fair shout for it online.

[lutonlagerlout]

LTP do a range of sealants
maybe have a look on extensive.co.uk
lithofin colour enhancer and miracle do enhancers as roger has already mentioned
personally I would skip the limestone and get slate
LLL

[Azpects]

We do a Sealer especially for this very reason

EASYSeal Slate and Limestone: http://www.azpects.co.uk/products/easyseal-slate-limestone.aspx