Help!!! - Natural stone patio gone very wrong!

[Pationightmare]

Hi guys,

We had a patio laid last summer - Ethan Mason Smooth Silver Slabs and after the first week, we were left with the images on the link below...

We had an absolute nightmare with the guy that laid it (twice) and without going into too much detail, we got ripped off, he took just about every liberty you can think of and broke just about every moral code you can imagine, then I’m pretty sure poured hydrochloric brick acid over the slabs when he’d finished.

We’ve been left with a complete disaster and really need some advice on anything we can do other than rip the whole thing up and start again.

I’ve spent £600 on Lithofin products. They haven’t touched the damage that’s been caused.

Photos show the progression. I haven’t taken one this year yet, but it’s worse still - huge black areas in the middle of the slabs. Also included a pic of the two empty 5L bottles of cleaner he left behind with all his other crap.

]https://photos.app.goo.gl/Zo0Cyt2iAxXXviqX2[/IMG]

Please Help!!!

[RAPressureWashing]

Photo link doesn't work?

[Pationightmare]

Thanks Roger,

Try this one -

https://photos.google.com/share....VNzV3l3

[Pationightmare]

I’ve added a picture taken this morning and two pics of how they were laid the first time round - we were told they’d been laid on a full mortar bed, but this is what we found when every slab sounded hollow when you walked on it, started wobbling and lifted the day after they’d finished.
Second time round they laid on a full bed and painted the back of the slabs with SBR - this was the reason they hadn’t adhered first time round apparently? This job cost me £11,000 (including walled area) I was quoted £7,500, which they demanded within the first few days, then marched my Mrs to the bank to withdraw another £3,500 on the day they finished. Scum.

Please let me know if link still doesn’t work.

[RAPressureWashing]

That links works, wow what a mess, the 2 cleaners they have used contain hydrochloric acid totally wrong for natural stone. From the photos, this might well be damaged beyond repair I'm afraid. As far as the laying of the stone, I'll let some of the others comment.

[Pationightmare]

Thanks Roger,

It’s certainly a mess and a very expensive lesson to learn! This guy has 9.8 rating on Checkatrade and advertises that he does patios.

Has anyone ever heard of a house insurance claim for something like this?

We would take him to court, but we never want to see or speak to the builder again, as we have had a lot of threats from telling people what happened.

[RAPressureWashing]

Sorry it was not most probably the news you wanted to hear, as for Check-a-Trade, wouldn't trust them and their ratings it's a joke. Ex-Member but can't go into details.

[Pationightmare]

Have you ever seen one this bad, Roger?

What do you think the large dark areas are caused by? Doesn’t look like the standard ‘black spot’ images I’ve seen online.

When I pointed out that the patio cleaner they used had ruined the slabs, they said they’d call me back, then when they did they said it was used to clean cement stains off our block paved drive where the mixer had been!

If I’ve got nothing to lose here, should I buy more of that cleaner to try and even the pattern out?! 😂

[Tony McC]

Ring bedding See here - always a sure sign of a clueless cowboy.

Highly unlikely that you'll be able to salvage the paving. It's stained more-or-less permanently....at least for a couple of years. Those marks *sometimes* weather out, buit there's no certainty.

I think you should contact the highly dubious Check-a-Trade and see what they have to say. I'd also look to start legal action against the incompetent clown responsible for this fiasco.

Roger may not be able to comment but I can: I have had more emails and phone calls about useless, incompetent so-called tradespeople found vis Check-a-Trade over the past 12-18 monbths than I have about any other product or service. After a particularly awful experience with a complete eejit of a roofer I found via Check-a-Trade, I now operate on the principle that,m if they are on that site, I won't have them anywhere near one of my projects.

I posted extremely powerful and point-by-point criticism of my pillock roofer....20 minutes later, it had disappeared. That's the standard of feedback!

[lutonlagerlout]

word of mouth is the only decent referral
I had to join the FMB for for a particular business reason and I get eejits ringing me up from that , but i swerve them on the whole
the patio looks pretty shot

I wonder what the guy saved in sand and cement doing it like this? £100

was it worth it?
the fact that check a trade relies on feedback makes it unreliable IMHO
as the gaffer says best option is to leave it and hope the great british weather does its job
LLL