Dyeing paving stones - Paving stones question

[Katieb2b]

Can anyone help? We've trawled the Internet for an answer but no joy and really hoping someone here can help!

We want to dye our red paving stones to a darker colour (ideally grey/black) but can't find any product that can do this? Are we missing something? Is it possible? We don't have the £££ to replace our whole patio/path...

Many thanks
Katie

[Pablo]

Hi Katie you can't find a product to do it because there isn't one is the short answer and any other work around like painting or adding dye to sealant is going to be very short term and will probably look crap. Wait till you've saved the money up then get the exact paving you want it'll be cheaper long term.

[Bob_A]

I'm not an expert but if the paving is made of concrete then you may be able to use an acid stain.
http://www.directcolors.com/what-is-acid-stain/

Not many places do it but here's another one
http://www.royhatfield.com/colouring/products/tekstain.asp

The acid is meant to permanently react with the concrete.
An ordinary dye type stain would be weather away in no time.

Don't rush out and buy it though. There are far more experienced people on here than me.

[Baron Greenback]

acid stain can be made using hydrochloric acid, distilled water and ferrous sulphate, do a google search on home brew acid stains and you will find what you are after, the slabs will go a rusty brown colour, you can make em go other colours with other chemicals too, but be careful! it is super corrosive!

[haggistini]

crazy advise for diyers can you not live with it untill you get some cash to do it

[Bob_A]

Problem with mixing your own apart from being dangerous is getting it right first time.
You could end up doing loads of test batches until you hit upon the right one.
Assuming that Katie's flags are concrete then the colour she is after a grey/black colour

[Tony McC]

There *are* dyes/stains/re-colorizers (guess where they come from!) for cured concrete but the only one I ever saw that was any good used to cost around 30 quid per square metre, and that was back in 2000 when I was advisor to a certain makeover programme. I can't even recall the name of the product, other than it was summat cheesey and the range was limited to buffs, reds, browns and charcoals.

You could (and we did) "re-color" uncoloured concrete paving to any of the available colors (sic), but you couldn't turn, say, a red/pink flag to buff. You could only go darker, not lighter, if you see what I mean. I was particularly underwhelmed by the results. I recall trying to re-colour plain 2x2s laid stack bond into something like a chessboard pattern using a 'deep red' which would have been more accurately named as "wishy-washy pastel pink" and it took repeated treatments to get it to anything approaching solid pink.

I think the stuff came from one of the PIC companies, but not one of the better known ones. If I can find a name in my archives, I'll post it later....

[London Stone Paving]

I agree with Haggs, sounds like madness and it will look crap. Give it a good clean, stick a few pots on it and save up for a new patio.

[Baron Greenback]

@ Haggis, My advice may seem crazy but i am a DIY'er and so long as you are careful, wear safety equipment and do not go doing stupid things like using acid whilst wearing flip flops and your swimming costume whilst riding your favourite unicycle, then I see no good reason why folk cannot have a go themselves. Here is the link I used - http://www.jamesriverstudio.com/diy_acidstain_fe.php

[mnlad743]

We want to dye our red paving stones to a darker colour (ideally grey/black) but can't find any product that can do this? Are we missing something? Is it possible? We don't have the £££ to replace our whole patio/path...

Katie,
There are several different types of concrete stains - acid based, polymer or dye-based stains and I do know that we should be seeing nano-tech based stains on the market soon. The right product, properly applied will not fade however there are some concrete colouring products that only lie on top of the surface and those will fade and eventually wear away.
I'd have to go along with some of the others in that acid-based stains aren't for the faint hearted - I'd recomend leaving those to expert contractors and the cost will most likely at a level where it would be cheaper to replace the slabs. These techniques and products were pioneered in the States where decorative concrete is much more popular (you'll likely find acid-stained concrete worktops in your local kitchen shop over there).
I do know that the U.S. company, Rust-Oleum, whose products are sold in the UK make a Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain Kit but as far as I'm aware this product is not available over here. The only UK manufacturer of concrete stains is the previously mentioned Roy Hatfield Limited.

If you want to look into acid-based stains further have a look at
http://www.concretenetwork.com/stained-concrete/
Please be aware that it is a U.S. site and one that is sponsored (the firms listed pay to have their products featured there). It will give you a lot of info regarding acid-stained concrete - it's application, care & feeding.

[RAPressureWashing]

@ Haggis, My advice may seem crazy but i am a DIY'er and so long as you are careful, wear safety equipment and do not go doing stupid things like using acid whilst wearing flip flops and your swimming costume whilst riding your favourite unicycle, then I see no good reason why folk cannot have a go themselves. Here is the link I used - http://www.jamesriverstudio.com/diy_acidstain_fe.php

I work with acids etc most days, and to be honest I wouldn't let a homeowner or diyer near some of the stuff we use.
I think your "give it a go" view is floored and stupid, mixing chemicals unless you know what you are doing and using is a big mistake and you might only need to make that mistake once.