To seal or not to seal? - Indian sandstone

[Kevin58]

I would love to hear some thoughts on the question of sealing Indian Sandstone.
Firstly, is it necessary? any feedback from anyone who has had a patio down for some years without sealing.
Secondly any recomendations for a decent product? My finished patio will be 75sq metres, so as it will be a fairly expensive undertaking I would like to get a product that will be hard wearing. Many thanks

[lutonlagerlout]

i use lithofin MN stainstop on mine
its invisible a day after being applied and makes cleaning a lot easier
it will cost you roughly £125 to do your area but IMHO well worth it
however if your patio is north facing it will still get algae on it in the winter
LLL

[Kevin58]

Thanks LLL
I've had a reply from my suppliers saying that only 5% of their customers seal their sandstone slabs, so would like to throw that snippet into the mix for comment.
Apart from the obvious issue of staing from wine or grease what are the actual benefits of sealing?

[lutonlagerlout]

TBh not a lot
i did my sister in laws patio roughly the same time as my own but she didnt have it sealed
and you wouldn't notice much difference
all a sealer does is what it says===> seal the surface
best to use no sealer at all than any of the cheap sealants
ie Tho**ons patio ruiner
LLL

[London Stone Paving]

Kevin

LLL is spot on regarding the comments on the lithofin stain stop. It is one of the market leaders in sealant and as such it has been developed to a level that when used on the majority of stones it barely leaves any trace of its existence. As you would also expect it is one of the more expensive products on the market (though there are a couple more less known specialist sealants which are more expensive on the market).

You also need to be extremely aware of the cheaper sealants available on the market. I'm talking about the non brand sealants that you can buy from places like TP & B&Q. I am not slating these cheaper sealants because they do serve their purpose which is, to seal paving. The problem with these cheaper sealants is that they can leave an horrific sheen on top of your patio. The result will be a patio which bears no relation to the original paving material that you first chose.

I would be interested to know what the paving material is?

Would also be interested to know the reasons why you want/think the paving should be sealed.

Will then be in a position to hopefully give some sound advice.

Steve

steven@londonstone.com

[Kevin58]

Thanks for the replies.
The slabs are Fossil Mint Indian Sandstone which originate from Gwalior according to Stonetraders UK who were the suppliers.
As a complete novice in the world of slabs, upon taking delivery, I suppose that I feared the worst and was dreading the thought of any moisture getting into the "layers" of the slabs and subsequently freezing and seperating. Hopefully I am completley wrong in this and sealing the slabs gives no form of protection and is merely a question of cosmetics.

[savaloy dip]

Hey Kevin

After much thought I decided to go for sealing my patio (Fossil Mint Indian Stone like you). I thought that as it's new and I'm a bit clumsy with the red wine when bbq'ing I might as well go for it. I went with the MN lithofin stainstop which you've been recommended. It was pretty expensive, but so was the patio....

It only went down today so a bit early to really tell but it has not made my nice stone all shiny which I was really concerned about and it hasn't noticebly darkened the stone which I also did not want to happen because I like the way it looks.

Oh, and if you're interested I have about 3.5 litres of the stuff left. My builder clearly overestimated how much was needed which is incredibly annoying because it costs a fortune. If you live near Sheffield and are interested then let me know.

[cookiewales]

Hey Kevin

After much thought I decided to go for sealing my patio (Fossil Mint Indian Stone like you). I thought that as it's new and I'm a bit clumsy with the red wine when bbqing I might as well go for it. I went with the MN lithofin stain stop which you've been recommended. It was pretty expensive, but so was the patio....

It only went down today so a bit early to really tell but it has not made my nice stone all shiny which I was really concerned about and it hasn't noticeably darkened the stone which I also did not want to happen because I like the way it looks.

Oh, and if you're interested I have about 3.5 litres of the stuff left. My builder clearly overestimated how much was needed which is incredibly annoying because it costs a fortune. If you live near Sheffield and are interested then let me know.

hang on to it you can retreat next year it is the best on the market German technology at its best fossil mint does collect algae vary easy so it wont go to waste ps only treat when stone is totally dry and clean :;): :;):

[London Stone Paving]

Kevin

Fossil mint is one of the softer varieties of Indian sandstone and as such will absorb a lot of moisture. Though in my experience this will not damage the stone as you thought. The only negative factor is that fossil mint does go dark quite quickly, very quickly in north facing or damp gardens. Sealing will slow this process down but not stop it altogether.

[Triggaaar]

I'm interested in the same thing having just laid some grey Indian sandstone. Mine is Global's sandstone, and having worked with it it seems pretty stong. The only reason I'd be interested in sealing it is either to prevent staining from red wine and the like, or to reduce the build up of algae.

http://www.globalstonepaving.co.uk/global-....-paving

Do you think a sealer is worth it on this sandstone?

Thanks

[London Stone Paving]

Trig

Grey Indian sandstone is extremely hard. I was talking about it recently with one of my suppliers and he was saying that its technically not really sandstone.

If red wine is going to be a problem then it would be worth sealing the paving. Regarding the alagae growth unless the garden was north facing or particuarly wet then my feeling is that this particular type of stone would not need to be sealed

[Triggaaar]

Yes it sure is hard, you could be forgiven for thinking it was slate.

I don't think there'll be a lot of red wine spilt, but it will happen at some point. Maybe it'll be best just to clean it up quickly when it does happen, probably a lot easier than to seal it regularly.

Thanks