Black indian limestone

[marsaday]

I am going to be doing a patio on a house i rent out and so want to use the cheapest material possible really.

I have looked and the indian paving on ebay is the cheapest i can get - same price as crappy concrete stuff really.

So i just wanted to see if anyone had used this paving before. It is about 20-30mm thick and costs £15.35 delivered.

On ebay this one is called Kaddappa, but there is a slightly more expensive one called Kotah/Kota.

Is there any difference between these two or are they the same thing, just different names.

I have used indian for my own patio and this has been fine, but it is the sandstone stuff. So is the limestone version much different, apart from being a bit cheaper ?

Ps, just read about the limestone fading, but i am not too bothered by this.

Maybe i could get some better recommendations for stuff to use on the patio which is cheaper than £15/sqm delivered ?

[lutonlagerlout]

TBH if you are bottom feeding you are likely to get stuff of a lesser quality and harder to lay
i rent out places and wouldnt use black limestone because renters rarely care for their rented houses

I would use 600 by 600 council greys circa £10 per metre and nigh on impossible for the renters to wreck

also you do get tax relief on maintenance on property you rent out,something to bear in mind

Cheers LLL

[marsaday]

Would rather pay extra 5 per metre = extra £150 because overall finish will be better and add greater capital value.

I patio is not really an area where you can do too much damage (compared to carpets for example).

All the money is in the labour and i am doing that myself.

[lutonlagerlout]

black limestone is one of the more popular search terms on here because it is high maintenance
as with all limestone it can be affected by acids
also it is susceptible to bleaching
the time for a decent patio is about 2 weeks before you plan to sell
IMHO
good luck
LLL

[London Stone Paving]

Would rather pay extra 5 per metre = extra £150 because overall finish will be better and add greater capital value

Not if the black limestone patio gets trashed by your new tenants

[Tony McC]

If the property being rented is at the higher end of the market, then a natural stone patio would probably be appreciated, but when it comes to value paving for the loower end of the market, you can't beat LLL's suggestion of good old 3x2's,m or 2x2's for lighter handling.

Easy to lay (easier than uncalibrated Kaddapha Black!), easy to maintain (no fading, resistant to mild acids and patio cleaners, less prone to algae and lichens) and much harder to damage with spilled wine, dumped furniture, dog crap, barbecues, etc.

There's a reason why they are used so commonly on the nation's public footpaths!

[PavingSuperstore]

Just in answer to your question regarding the kadapha/ kaddapha and the kota/kotah blue, the main real difference from an aesthetics point of view is the colour. The kadapha is a black limestone whereas the kota is a blue/grey limestone. The kadapha won't stay black however as it's naturally bleached by sunlight so will become more of a steely grey over time. Some people seal the kadapha or use colour intensifiers to strengthen/ protect the colour if they want it to remain as dark as possible. Visually, the natural stone will beat the concrete hands down, but it's whether it's looked after by your lodgers that counts in the long term. Will a nicer garden enable you to charge more rent for the property? We've got black limestone on sale at the moment for £17.98 per m2 inc vat & delivery and this is with Natural Paving, which is a decent brand, although I think there may be other stone types that would be easier to maintain than black limestone for your requirements.

[marsaday]

Thanks for info paving SS.