I'm not sure if anyone's seen this and it's hard to describe but this morning I did a quote for a job with some rather odd marks, not Lichen, that have appeared recently. The drive itself was laid some 30 years ago. It's a small hole in the brick surrounded by brown. the first 2 photo's below are of this. The customer said she'd only recently noticed them.
I then when to a job I cleaned on Monday and they also have just one of these marks, what's odd is a few of the bricks near it appear as though they won't dry yet they've had plenty of time, it's not oil and I was wondering if anyone had seen this before? They are the last 2 photo's. Please also note this is at the top of the driveway and in an area where water drains off well, we've had no rain since I did the work 4 days ago.
Odd marks on the job I quoted this morning...
What looks like damp that won't go away, which also has one of the above marks I cleaned on Monday....
The top 2 photos are some form of rust either something has sat on the surface for a long time and marked the paving, not repairable you need to replace the blocks.
The 3rd photo is an oil or grease stain
4th photo looks like damp blocks that haven't dried out yet for whatever reason.
There is still Lichen on the blocks as well.
I agree it looks like rust on the first 2 images but I was intrigued as the potential customer said it's appeared recently and there are quite big holes in the middle.
Regarding the oil/grease image you commented on, that's just a close up of the picture you said are damp patches, though no cars are ever parked there and the customer assured me there were no oil spills. I certainly didn't spot any while cleaning or quoting.
Re the Lichen many thanks for your hypo solution, I've had great success with that but the customer on that job didn't want any chemicals to be used and is happy with the result, with the exception of the damp area bit.
I only asked about the damp bit as I've not seen that before and bricks as far as I've seen don't normally take 5 days of dry weather to dry out.
Many thanks though, I suspect I'll just have to replace all the bricks. Would you recommend turning them over or simply replacing? The first drive is over 30 years old.
Don't think you can turn those blocks, can't tell from the photo but do the blocks have a chamfered edge? if yes then no, Plus blocks that have been in position for 30 years are going to look shite on the underside as well so pretty much a no-go. New blocks will stand out like a sore thumb as well. Have you tried lifting a block (one of the damp ones) to see what is going on underneath ?
Pic 3 stills looks like a old oil or grease stain to me though.
How dirty was it to begin with?
I Imagine you could find reclaimed weathered blocks in brindle or maybe even get away with red on ebay or a local reclaimed yard if lucky. i imagine that they would still be noticeable for a while but no way near as noticeable as new blocks
