Black grout drying grey - Have followed measurements precisely

[cmarnold]

Hi. We are pointing a slate patio with what should be black mortar. We are using black powder dye and are mixing exactally according to manufacturers instructions-to the point of using a weighing scale! we are doing a semi dry mix and upon mixing the mortar is the perfect black colour we want. however as it dries it is turning a very pale grey, as first i thought eff bloom, but it is a uniform colour in every joint-totally not the colour i want unfortunately. We have 120sq meters of patio to point andi dont want to do any more until i figure out what is going wrong here. can anybody help? (i did a sample piece before we started and it did not turn grey).

[msh paving]

You cant mix semi-dry coloured mortar with powdered colour it needs water to make its true colour show through,pointing need to be wetish or it wont stick in the joints and go hard semi dry is no good to point with,
Have you tried Romex or GtfK
read me ill tell you all you need to know

MSH

[Mikey_C]

i've always found the powder mortar tone to be inferior, and prefer the liquid tone. if this helps?

[Amogen]

Did a patio last year and used the FEB Tone Powder. ustomer wanted it jet black, so mixed it as instructed. In the mixer was nice and black. Was a wet mix too. We pointed during the day when the customer was at work, and when he returned he hated it being black!!! Said he would pay for it to be replaced with normal pointing. Couldnt do it straight away, but customer rang a week late and said dont bother doing it. As it had dried, it had gone grey and he liked it!!

Never used FEB Tone again!!!

[lutonlagerlout]

maybe use easipoint for a regular colour,costs a bit more but the colour is guaranteed
LLL

www.easipoint.co.uk



Edited By lutonlagerlout on 1255448215

[Dave_L]

Pointing, what a pain in the ass.

Glad we don't have to do it with tarmac!!!!

[MBPM]

Hi. We are pointing a slate patio with what should be black mortar. We are using black powder dye and are mixing exactally according to manufacturers instructions-to the point of using a weighing scale! we are doing a semi dry mix and upon mixing the mortar is the perfect black colour we want. however as it dries it is turning a very pale grey, as first i thought eff bloom, but it is a uniform colour in every joint-totally not the colour i want unfortunately. We have 120sq meters of patio to point andi dont want to do any more until i figure out what is going wrong here. can anybody help? (i did a sample piece before we started and it did not turn grey).

I share your pain. This summer I attempted to follow the instructions on the mortar dying case study, and only the only thing that went vaguely black and stayed so were the granite setts I was attempting to point. Got utterly p*ssed off with it, both powder and wet dyes. Eventually chipped it all back out and used romex easy instead. Which is what I sorely wish i'd have done in the first place.

The case study on the main site should come with a large warning to the effect of "If you are anything other than a master craftsman of paving do not attempt". Or a haynes five spanner rating :p

[Tony McC]

You can't get a true, consistent black mortar using powder or liquid dyes. The only safe methods are to buy a pre-mixed and coloured lime-mortar (which will cure to charcoal grey at best), use a resin mortar with a basalt aggregate (again a very dark charcoal grey), or use pitch!

Too many folk get all hung up about the colour of the pointing. I prefer to keep it simple: light or dark. And in most cases, it will be mucky brown in a month's time as detritus accumulates on the surface!