Sorry...... Black Limestone

[Paul Giverin]

18 years ago I laid about 25 sq m of black limestone patio slabs. Obviously its something I'd not do again but at the time I wasn't aware about the loss of colour issues. About 10 years ago I actually scrubbed the slabs and it did bring back some of its colour. I then applied a sealing product which darkened it down further and that lasted 2 years. At that point I realised that the sealant was responsible for the darkening and my labour intensive scrubbing was a bit of a waste so I vowed not to do that again. I'm now at the point where I'm fed up with my light grey black limestone patios again.

I've read all the Pavingexpert.com sealant/colour enhancer/limestone pages and tests many times over the years but (no criticism) the last test seems to have been almost 7 years ago and some of the products don't seem to be available any more. Conversely, there seems to be a few more new products now that haven't been tested. When I last sealed my patio, the product I used was "Aquaseal Enrich n Seal". I was reasonably happy with this. It looked a bit too wet initially but after a couple of weeks it had flattened down to a nice satin finish. Unfortunately it isn't available in the UK anymore.

So I'm wondering what to use now. Just to be clear, its the colour restoration/darkening that's my main priority. If it protects against any spillages then fine but I'm not so fussed about that. I see a lot about the Easyseal "Back to Black" product and I'm sure it does darken the limestone to a nice finish but It's expensive and I'd like to get 2 years out of it before I need to reapply. Does anyone have any info about its longevity or indeed any info about other products I should be considering? Thanks.

[Paul Giverin]

Well I went ahead and bought the Easyseal "Back to Black". It cost me £70 for a 1 litre bottle. The product went down very well. I used a paint pad as I've done when sealing the patio many years ago. As you have to wipe off any excess product with a lint free rag, I soon worked out that if you spread the product really well with the paint pad, you don't get so much excess and you don't waste much of it. I treated my larger patio (see photos) and one about a third of the size and used just over 500ml. With a bit of care I might be able to treat both patios again with the remainder in a couple of years. It does take a while to dry/cure. It was still slightly tacky after 20 hours but after 30 hours seems dry. We can afford to stay off it for another couple of days. The product info says full protection is after 7 days.

The patios look amazing compared to their previous faded state. Time will tell how long they stay looking good. I would happily settle for re-applying it once every two years as it was quite an easy job. Here is the before and after photos.