Marshall's tegula block paving - Colour faded tegula 'hazlenut'

[dab49]

Hi all, have posted before and continue to linger in the back ground on a daily basis-fantastic site!

Had a driveway completed July last year, the blocks have faded quite considerably. Marshalls guy came out today and brushed in an acid based fluid on a trial area and was confident that this would enhance the colour. Unfortunately when the area had dried out; no improvement.

Has any one had any issues with blocks fading in such a short period of time?

many thanks in advance for your time....

[DNgroundworks]

I havent....well a customer has never rang me too complain...

Im pretty sure there are products out there that will enhance the colour of your paving.

[Carberry]

Post a photo so we can see just how badly faded they are.
Concrete products shouldn't fade within a year though so I'm going to hazard a guess and say that they are faulty and Marshall's should bear the cost of replacing them.

[lutonlagerlout]

IIRC hazelnut is a very light colour especially from marshalls southern plant
i would be interested to see a photo
cheers LLL

[cookiewales]

thats a old trick acid will enhance every time , the old concrete bricks orange pink yellow they used to dip in acid it was cheaper than the colour tones to enhance .if you put hydocloric acid on any concrete product it will enhance :p

[mickg]

Hi Dave good to see you back but sadly under the wrong circumstances, are you meaning the Marshalls installer who laid the driveway or someone else from Marshalls ?

could you post a photo of when the driveway was first completed and now with the colour difference

[Dave_L]

Seal the blocks?

[mickg]

I found the thread from last year showing the photos

Tegula Hazelnut Block Paving

and Dave's first post where the sand laying course was 80 - 90 mm deep
Sand Laying course

[dab49]

Many thanks gents for your responses....

LLL- take on board the fact that the Hazlenut colour is not a dark/deep brown shade but what I failed to explain in the original post was a large number of the blocks are now a greyish colour and the remainder are quite faded but do resemble the Hazlenut example.

DNG- Totally understand with regard to colour enhancers/sealing etc.. but I guess after 6 months I would'nt expect to have a work around and I am concerned what they may look like in another 6 months time. To be honest having spent nearly £20k (including turfs) I don't have the funds to get the driveway sealed and had planned to do this 2-3 yrs down the line.

Cookie- Just had another look at the acid test area and it appears to have dried out. It has darkened the blocks but enhanced the colour(not sure)? feedback much appreciated from the photo that hopefully mick will kindly post,. I now have a small area which looks as if it has had a spillage on it!!In any event I don't think i'd be happy having the complete driveway treated with acid- approx 220 sq m

Mickg- It was the Marshalls guy- regional technical consultant who inspected and carried out the acid test. Sorry to be a pain Mick,I will send you the photo's direct for you to post on my behalf (hope thats o.k)....

As the property is in an elevated position we had a lot of positive feed back from the locals when the drive way was initially installed. Most recently a few have commented with regard to the fading on the blocks and when the installer had priced a job down the road the lady would not have it that the colour of the blocks were hazlenut-not sure if he got the job or not.

Many thanks for your valued feedback,hopefully the photo's will make it a bit clearer

Dave

[mickg]

Images of the Tegula hazelnut driveway sent to me by dab49






After acid wash


seeing as someone from Marshalls has this in hand I am not going to pass any comment other than it looks like some of the joints could do with topping up with kiln dried sand

[lutonlagerlout]

from where i sit its a tough one as the blocks are a fairly neutral bland colour to start with
I prefer traditional as there is more variety to start with
all CBP suffers from an element of bleaching/fading and it is unrealistic to expect the colour to remain as is forever
I am not sure what guarantee of colour steadfastness is implied with CBP
but i do know that all CBP fades over time
sorry I cannot be more helpful
LLL

[Dave_L]

I'd have an area sealed, see what it then looks like.

I've had good results with that Thompsons stuff. I know the pros will diss it but it got me out of trouble with a CBP driveway when the blocks became patchy and Marshalls washed their hands of it.

[dab49]

Gents, thanks for your replies...

LLL-It's very difficult to tell from the photo's, I do understand that the product will fade in time but find it hard to swallow that it has faded after 6-7 months. I have no idea with regard to the technical spec, but I have sent the brochures and Marshalls contract to an old work mate who is a commercial lawyer in the smokey city he will look at that detail and i'll get him to contact Marshalls technical people direct with regards to the CBP spec (thanks for that).

Dave L- Get where you are coming from with the sealing work round. The last place I completed had an old drive that had been down for 10+ yrs,right old state (weeds ect..) they were the standard blocks. I jet washed them ,re-sanded and used the Thompsons one coat(?). Looked good at first but the sealant didn't last 6 months,may be something to do with the uv ?

Wish I had installed those standard blocks here now,even with out the sealant they retained thier colour...

Many thanks

Dave

[local patios and driveway]

To be fair, despite the comments about concrete paving fading regardless, i have seen 15 yr old paving that has faded the same amount. I wouldnt be happy of that was the result after a year only, it looks dull and lifeless now compared to the original shot

[dab49]

Gentlemen, firstly many thanks for your replies.

One further question, I have read the section on this fantastic site with regard to using acid on concrete and thier is a cautionary note. It's not something that I am considering,but would be useful to have more info on this method as I think the supplier may suggest this as a work round.

Many thanks again

Dave