A bodged job gone worse.... - Stained sandstone

[bushuk]

Right, i will cut to the chase....

The Missus is in tears, and i am about as P***ed off as i could be right now

Basically, we planned a garden renovation - removing an old 60m3 concrete pad patio and 25m3 of concrete paths.

We had a relative (actually a good, experienced builder / brick layer) do the ground work & build some walls.

Got some quotes for the patio, but being spring / early summer they were booked up for a while, and the said relative said he would take the patio job on so we could get it done before the summer.

We used a Brett "moorland gold" linear sandstone,
All going very well, patio gets laid and looked very nice.
All lovely levels and regular joints etc.

Then the problems start within a day or two (before he has jointed up the slabs)

Firstly, the slabs never bonded to the motar bed, which was a 4:1 sharp sand / cement mix. It was a hottish few days, but the mix was reasionably wet and the slabs were wetted prior to laying.

OK i said to him, what should we do?

We lifted a couple of slabs and the bed was looking fine, but they just didn't bond. (i now know he should have used a bond bridge or something similar)

Stick them down with polymer resin (buffalo XP 300), he said... will definitely not move.

So sure enough, off he went and did this.
They stuck down fine, all the levels kept reasonable and the missus was happy. He jointed up and the patio looked lovely.. Job done, and the relative was paid up.

Within a few days (especially after rain) dark lines start appearing on the slabs. Obviously, this is where the resin is on the back of the slabs. It looks horrendous!!!

The missus is in tears, and i am gutted having spent a good packet trying to keep the missus happy.

The relative is obviously gutted as well, as he never intended to rip me off or be a cowboy - but obviously didn't appreciate what was going to happen, and hadnt experience in laying sandstone before.

So the long and the short of it is i really need some advise as to whether this is salvageable in any way whatsoever.

To be honest, at this stage i have accepted that it will not be the beautiful job that I had wanted or expected, but just want the patio to look presentable, without having to throw another packet of cash at it.

So - is there a coating, sealant or colour enhancer that i can put on it to try to mask the stains?

Will giving it time help?

Or should i just give up and paint it with grey garage floor paint.....

Any advise would be grately appreciated.

[Tony McC]

I doubt there is a simple fix. It's highly unlikely that any sealant or colour enhancer will *permanently* hide the staining.

If you can, send or post some photies but I suspect the only remedy is wholesale replacement.

[bushuk]

How can I add a photo?

I cannot work out how to attach one...

Sorry for being a newbie.

[bushuk]

http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/glenn ... sort=3&o=0

Hopefully this is the image of the patio.

[Tony McC]

Can't really tell much from that but have you thought about using a resin removed, such as Resin-ex or Paramose, and see if that improved matters?

[bushuk]

The staining on the surface is not from the resin.

I guess as the resin is on the underside, that the stone drys at a different rate (i.e. the resin gives some kind of waterproofing to the underside where it is applied.)

The staining disappears when the stones are wet, is worst after a few hours after a rain and almost disappears after a few days of dry....

I was thinking that a sealant / repellent might help stop this.

Any thoughts?

[Tony McC]

I still believe a sealant/colour enhancer will have little or no effect. I would need to see much better images, or, ideally, see the actual paving at first and, to be sure, but I still think a resin remover would be the simplest, and cheapest, first option.