Picture framing - indian sandstone

[Pwrigtom]

Good morning all.

I have recently laid for the first time an Indian Sandstone patio. It was laid using a lot of great advice on this site using a 6/1 full mortar bed etc.

Once laid it looked great, however i then used Sika Fastfix jointing compound to joint it (this was to get the desired colour) since it was joined the edges of the flags have stayed looking damp. It's been joined a week now and the compound is set.

I read different things online and I wondered what this forums opinion was. Am I going to have to live with it or will it weather out over time? Is there anything I can do to speed up the process?

Thanks

[Tony McC]

Sika is an exceptionally well-known, trusted and, dare I say it, respected brand with decades of experience in providing quality materials to the construction trade throughout the world.

So quite how they managed to come up with the utter, utter shite that is their god-awful jointing jollop is completely beyond me. It is shockingly, bewilderingly, incomprehensibly crap!

It is fast approaching the ignoble Geo-Fix in number of complaints regarding cock-up and complete failures that come in to the website.

The more-or-less inevitable picture framing is probably due to the doping oil they use - I'd love to see picture of what you have, just to confirm that diagnosis - in which case it will, eventually weather away and leave you with crumbling, weed-encrusted, stuck-to-feck-all joint mush, but I have seen projects where the staining persist for a couple of years or more.

[Pwrigtom]

Firstly Thank you for your time.

It is a bit annoying I used a good brand that had good reviews, I guess all situations different.

Main thing for me is that it's not likely permanent. If i have to replace jointing in a couple of years that's Life I guess and you live and learn!

That's an image (if the link had worked)

Tom

image I hope

[Tony McC]

Yep - that image strongly suggests the doping oil from the Sika nonsense has penetrated to stone. It *should* break down over the summer and leave you with almost no staining.

This form of staining is all-too-common with the "dry brush-in" types of resin-based jointing compounds, especially when the stone is parched dry. For those jointing products that can cope with moisture, it's always better to pre-wet the surface and so minimise the uptake of the doping oil.

[Pwrigtom]

Thank you is a good to know it should go and it's supprising how much couple of plant pots brightens it all up

For the patio I'm stuck with the gloop for now. I have however a path to do that will need to be jointed.

It's far enough away to not look odd a slightly different shade but standard mortar would look odd.

Can I get a lighter appearance by dry filling with a white cement and sand mix? I live in Manchester area as I'm aware you can get differing shades of sand in more Southern areas.

Thanks

Tom

[Tony McC]

I don't understand: you want to lighten the appearance of athe Sika nonsense by brushing-in a dry mix of sand and white cement?

How will you achieve adequate depth for the sand/cement mix not to just crumble away? And, unless you were to treat the while area, how would you achieve a consistent appearance?

[Pwrigtom]

No,

The patio is done.

In addition to this I'm doing a path in the same stone but at the other side of the garden.

Given Sika is

a) expensive b) clearly got issues

What can I use to get a similar lighter appearance on the path. These would be new joints not touched by Sika, in fact not even laid at the moment.

Thanks

[Tony McC]

Of the 2-part resin slurry mortars, I'm happiest with VDW850, Romex D1 and Pavestone PointFix