Bronte paving flags - Bubble holes in surface of flags

[jamesn6]

I have just had a patio laid with acorn brown bronte paving flags and have had a quick look at them - havent wanted to walk on them as they are not fixed down yet.

I have noticed that a lot of the flags have got some very tiny holes on the surface (no more than 1mm diameter really) and I am guessing that these are bubble holes from where all of the air has not been removed from the concrete in manufacture. I have emailed Brett who are going to forward my email to a technician.

I am prettty sure that the flags have been stored okay as they were in full packs and have been on a pallett under a tarpauline. If I am right then they have come from a reputable builders merchants (although I'm not entirely sure). There are those little plastic bobbly bits all over the garden so they seem to have been stacked okay.

If these holes are not detrimental to the structure of the flags then I think it best to leave alone as at a quick glance they are not noticeable and it seems to be taking an age for the builders to complete the patio (there was a lot of digging out, sorting drains etc).

Will the holes simply wear down do you think?

Thanks.

[Tony McC]

Pinholes are caused, as you suspected, by air bubbles becoming attached to the mould when the concrete is curing.

They'll not wear down, as such, but will fill with dust and detritus and become almost invisible, but if there are lots of them, it's usually taken as indicative of less then ideal manufacturing and/or a problem with the mould oil sprayer.

[lutonlagerlout]

There are those little plastic bobbly bits all over the garden

so haven't they got a skip then???
sorry its my pet hate, rubbish hanging round
LLL

[Ted]

They were not vibrated sufficiently, I reckon.

It is almost impossible to remove every single air bubble when pre-casting concrete though.

You can fill the holes but it is cheaper and easier to allow dirt to fill them and it will also make your patio look like it has been down a while.