Point fix stains on grey sandstone

[Justyna_T]

Hello,
I am a new member full of hope to rescue my patio slabs.We had an indian stone patio installed this summer but unfortunately one of the flags got damaged by a fire pit couple of weeks ago and we had it replaced.the same contractor came to fix it.they layed the stone on Monday and came back on Friday to fill the joint.they used the Point Fix grey.
There were some issues during initial installation where stone didnt bond to the cement bed and had to be taken up and reset and jointed but each time it got fixed,everything looked fine.this time a dark mark is left around the new stone.it affects the new flag and surrounding ones. it looks like there is a film from the compound, that got worked into the edges. The contractor said that this is due to the concrete below being fresher than elsewhere and I just need to give it time to dry. I am not convinced he is right as there is visible residue on the surface when the stone is wet.
The Point Fix compound was used on dry stone,the joint was pretty deep and I think a brush was used to work it into the gap. the darker mark is very unsightly on the otherwise pale grey stone.
The technical spec sheet for the product states that it does not cause staining, but something has obviously gone on here. I had a search online for cleaners and I can see that there are products for removal of resin residue or stone strippers but I wondered if there is a chance that it will just weather out? Similar product-Easy joint manufacturer states that there is linseed oil in the product which might stain occasionally but will weather out over time. Point fix spec sheet says that there are no oils in it to cause staining. So I wonder what did and is there a way of getting the stains out?

[msh paving]

leave it a week or 2 the sun should get the stains of, if no luck then look at the cleaner you talked about

[Justyna_T]

Thank you for your reply. The guys who did the joint left me the rest of the compound after the repair. So I did a little test on an off cut of the stone yesterday. I have mixed it and rubbed it into the stone,just like they did outside. It takes some doing to make a stain like this!anyway,no amount of scrubbing gets rid of the film it creates on top.i have tried a spirit based surface cleaner which faded it but didnt get rid of it after 3 goes still.i also discovered that this is probably the reason why one of the stones on the patio had a strange stain on it from the last day of installation. I thought it was discolouration in the stone itself ,but now I think that this is where they mixed the compound.its in the middle of the slab.it has been there for 6 weeks now ..so now I am really worried that it will not go away!

[Tony McC]

It's difficult to be certain when we haven't seen the affected paving but, from what you describe, I would guess it's a resin residue, which seems to be a very popular topic of late.

A "spirit cleaner" will not work. The resin is not soluble in any oil-based cleaner. It requires a specific solvent and the best place to start is Resin-Ex, but as I said in another thread a few minutes back, it's probably wisest to give it some time to see how it weathers.

[lutonlagerlout]

the big question for me is why was a fire pit on the brand new patio?

I had a call back a few years ago and the client in question had had a bonfire on her patio
and she wanted to know why the pointing had cracked !!

LLL :;):