Indian stone grouting - Whats best to use

[alfienoakes]

Hello,

I have a new patio being laid at the mo. Its an Indian stone, bit like a sandstone / slate type of material, in grey.

Anyway, it doesnt appear to soak up mortar very well. Its laid on an MOT sub base about 75mm thick, then about 40mm of sharp sand / grit with cement dust added in, about 6:1 mix.

Its not being jointed as we go. My question is, the guy laying it is concerned that if we use a typical wet cement joint, it may not take to the edges of the stone, and the smaller joints could crack.

So we have looked into some of the other jointing methods.

Would this be an ideal situation to use a polymer based jointing system, and if so, which is the best value one?

Its about 35m sq of patio, ranging from 900 x 760's down to 250 sq tiles.

Any help suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Andy

[dig dug dan]

I have just laid a similar size, and I have jointed with a pointing gun, wet mix, 3-1 soft sand, with plastisciser.
It works fine, and seems to stick with no problem.
Without a pointing gun, its a days work on your hands and knees, but I was finished by mid morning!
You can of course use romex. A tin should cover 6sqM, and costs approx £20 a tin. I have used it and it works very well. Its just a matter of choice.LLL has lots of romex experience, and his patio looked a treat when he used it.

[wilf]

Ican highly recommend romex, quick and easy to do and looks the business,the romex when brushed in brings out the colours of the indian stone,then seal it with Romex sealer the finished result looks a hundred times better than Indian stone not Romexed and sealed . as far as I,m concerned pointing with mortar is a thing of the past.

cheers wilf

[DeckmanAdam]

Ditto the above from wilf.
Banister Hall in preston do a next day delivery on it.

[lutonlagerlout]

romex is good so is gftk,but i feel i may be going back to sand cement albeit easi-point
i find the climate in this country always ends up discolouring epoxy mortars
a mate of mine used 1 of easipoints pointing guns and he rates them very highly ,reckons once you get the hang they are 3 times quicker
romex is expensive compared to geofix but it will last the course
LLL

[alfienoakes]

Cheers guys,

I will probably be going for the romex product, dependent on the price I can get it for. If its too much, might look at easipoint, but the romex is nice and simple. Getting a price off of my supplier.

Dont have a mortar gun, but if the price of the romex is more than a mortar gun and the easipoint, then I may bag myself a mortar gun.... suppose I could use it for piping cakes in the future...

Thanks a lot.. Just one more thing. I have read that the sealers seem to be a mixed bag. Which one would be best for my situation. I read above that Romex do one. Would this be the way to go.??

Thanks.

Andy

PS. Trying to find someone who does Romex or GftK in the south is proving tricky. Has anyone got any contacts down here on the south coast that I may be able to use..??

[Tony McC]

For Romex, try Ruscrete in Southampton - 023 8086 5046

For GftK, call their Chorley HQ and they'll be able to tell you about a local stockist - 01257 266696

[lutonlagerlout]

lithofin MN stainstop for the sealant
good stuff
LLL