Can i recolour my old paving - What can be done with my old paving

[simonhester]

Hi

I'm looking for advice on what I can do with my old paving that is now badly worn. The link below is an image of the very worn section https://photos.app.goo.gl/HXFRPqdUr68Qez2d7

Is there anything that can be done to recolour this? I've looked a few option stains and even paint but seem to be very mixed views on what may or may not work.

The paving is an old Marshalls slab but as you can see the sub straight the paving is made from is now showing through and the original surface is all but gone.

The structure is fine and no moving. It doe sneed to be re-grouted.

I had been trying to avoid replacement due to access difficulties to the rear of the property as everything needs to be moved through the house.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Tony McC]

There are re-colourants for concrete but the good ones are stupidly expensive, intended for large poured concrete slabs rather than individual flagstones, and even then, they never really work all that well. They also require extensive preparation of the concrete, involving etching fluid (strong HCl acid), so not something I ever recommend for DIYers.

For the type of wet-cast concrete flag you have, it's far more cost-effective to replace the paving than to waste time and money on a bodge-fix re-colouring that will, at best, last maybe 3-4 years and which can never replicate the subtle colouring and shading that comes with new quality wet-cast paving. Most re-colour jobs start as strong red fading to soft pink over time. The buffs and browns preferred for flag paving are much harder to achieve.