White mortar pointing

[joella]

Hi,

I have laid a path and patio of flagstones in my garden. Its my first time, it does look good although the joins are too big really. 20mm...still it looks ok. The flagstones are light grey sandstone.

As the joints are large, im thinking of doing white pointing. Woudl you advise against this at all? Do you have a better suggestion? Also how would i make white mortar?

I have some white portland cement. I also have building sand and also some kiln dried sand. Are either of these ok to use?

Thanks.
Joel

[Tony McC]

It'll be white when you first point up, and for a few weeks after, but then it will start to get dirty, and unless you either clean it religiously and/or seal it with summat, it will be mucky brown in a year's time.

Black mortar looks really good with that light grey sandstone - see photies on main website.

To make a white mortar you need silver sand and white cement. Building sand will make a pinky or orangey colour. KD sand doesn't have sufficient fines to make a good quality pointing mortar.

[joella]

Thanks for the prompt reply Tony.

I was a little worried about the white turnign dirty as well. I will try and convince my wife she wants black. I had suggested black already, but she was concerned that it would be too much as the joins are so big.

thanks
Joel

[lutonlagerlout]

have you considered pavement mortar i.e. romex or gftk?
the colour is in the sand and the resin fixes it
lot less work than pointing with sand/cement combos and will not stain your flags
cheers LLL

[joella]

Thanks for the tips. My wife would still like white, so the resin sounds a good bet. But where can i buy this stuff from, local DIY stores dont seem to have any.
None of them had silver sand either.

[lutonlagerlout]

seek and ye shall find
LLL :;):
uk stockist of romex is bannister hall garden centre in preston
and someone in chorley stocks gtfk
cheers LLL

[joella]

Great thanks i will give them a ring tomorrow. 3-4 tubs should do the 20m2 area i have laid.

Most of the patio is laid onto a gravel and sand sub layer, and then a 4:1 sand cement mortar. One part (where the previous small patio was) has a sub base mostly of sharp sand, but it was very well compacted, so i was happy with that.
The patio slopes away from the house, however i am still concerned about drainage because the graden itself slopes toward the house. Water will run down the path and garden onto the patio. Mostly i think it will drain away but there is no downpipe to direct the water to, so if it rains very heavily it could be an issue...perhaps.
Ive read the pages about drainage, i dont think they i need to anything extra, but waht do you guys think?

Cheers
Joel

[Davidhh]

As one amateur to another!! Don't touch white cement unless you are absolutely sure what you were doing. The chap who was doing my patio was supposed to be experienced at laying and jointing flages, but the mess that he made with white cement before we parted company was unbelievable. The white cement we used (I found out afterwards) is much stronger than ordinary grey cement, and if smears or stains you have a nasty problem.

[joella]

Thanks for the advise i chose not to use the white cement although used some as a mortar base this week and it was fine, although it hardens so much quicker, not so easy to work with i have found.

Regarding the pointing i have used Rompox and it looks great. One thing i have noticed tho is that even after a week it still has that resin smell in the air. Anyone know why that is? I would have expected that to have gone by now.

[Suggers]

mmmmm - I love the smell of Rompox in the morning - Robert Duvall.

[wilf]

i agree suggers opening a can of romex I feel like an exited child on christmas morning.....

[wilf]

i agree suggers opening a can of romex I feel like an exited child on christmas morning.....