Indian sandstone sealer - recommendations - Indian sandstone sealer - recommendation

[paulj]

For a patio I’ve laid some Remini paving by Strata, a polished Indian Sand Stone, 600x300, light cream/white in colour.

Looks great when down, but had a problem sealing it and wanted any advice that may be available on the forum?

I’ve used Resiblock Indian Sandstone Invisable sealant, a solvent based product, notes as a 1 coat system, 4 to 6m2 per litre.

Due to the porosity of the paving I have probably used in the region of double the recommended application rate, however despite this it still hasn’t sealed the paving.

Initially it seemed ok, water beaded on the top, but after a few days of heavy rain, leafs falling on it, the decaying matter soaked and stained the paving.

Does anyone have an experience of Resiblock Indian Sandstone Invisable sealant?

Or can recommend another manufacturer as would like to look at an alternative sealant, something compatible that can be applied as a finish sealant coat?

Cheers
Paul

[lutonlagerlout]

answered elsewhere

how where you applying the sealant?

i normally use a sponge, 3 litres gave 2 coats of lithofin to a 25M polished indian stone patio

LLL

[paulj]

I applied it as recommended, by roller, made sure it didn’t pond, pretty even coated.

Is the Lithofin water or solvent based?

What make was the polished stone patio?

Do you know if the paving has had any problems from staining from organic matter. Decaying leaves and dead bugs seems to be the problem with Resiblock sealant.

P

[lutonlagerlout]

honed paving stains very easily, we try our hardest to keep it spotless as we go
and seal as soon as poss
i have laid londonstone's offering this year
LLL

[RAPressureWashing]

What ever sealer you now go for, you will have to remove the Resiblock one first, so you don't get problems when putting one type of sealer over another.
Aqua-Mix Enrich & Seal is one I use, not cheap but very good.
There are photos of the Aqua-Mix finish on the Limestone pages on the main site it is a colour enhancer though.
Lithofin Stain Stop is very good though for honed/polished surfaces.

[littlewig]

What is the consensus on sealer?

Is it worth putting sealer on sandstone to avoid those red wine stains? Or just an expensive gimmick.

[paulj]

Cheers R&A for the recommendation.

Take on board your comment regarding removal of the Resiblock, although as it’s an impregnator I’m not sure how easy that’s going to be. How could it be removed?

Hoping to find another solvent based sealant, with some trials, hopefully I can get one that works on top of the Resiblock, although I appreciate that the new ,manufacturer probably wont recommend that.

[lutonlagerlout]

due to temperature and humidity I wouldnt reccomend doing any sealing till late march early april
LLL

[RAPressureWashing]

Paul,
Problem with sealers are people seem to think they are the answer to any future problems as in there won't be any.
Even with sealed paving leafs at this time of the year when they are wet etc can & will leave a tannin stain if allowed to sit on the paving, but this is easily removed, sealers work, but you can't just leave leaf's, wine, bar-b-q fat stains and expect them to just disappear, you have to remove the offending item as quick as you can so it don't stain. The sealer just suspend the offending item/stainer for a short time so you can remove the said item.
Hope that all made sense.

Resiblock being an impregnator can be removed, but messy & expensive, the Lithofin is a solvent and might work over the top of the Resiblock, but I can't guarantee this you may want to do a test area.
Does the paving look ok except for the leaf/tannin stains? if yes then I would leave it to run the winter months, let the weather throw it's worse at it, then clean it spring you'll easily get the tannin staining & any other dirt etc off using the mix I put up on the stain removals page of the main site. Once spring comes around deep clean and when thoroughly dry see how the sealer has held up and if needed look at removing and re-sealing with a different product. Trying to re-seal at this time of year is going to be a headache with the temperatures starting to drop plus the damp etc all starts to equal a fail.

[RAPressureWashing]

What is the consensus on sealer?

Is it worth putting sealer on sandstone to avoid those red wine stains? Or just an expensive gimmick.

As answered above mate ???

[paulj]

Cheers R&R, good advice indeed! Will have a look at your mix on the stain removal page.

The small area of paving (2m2) that I uncovered to test the sealant looks pretty much as expected apart from the leave staining. – will email you some pics.

Fully take on your point about not leaving stains to settle, although the leaves were probably there for 2 days during heavy rain which isn’t that long.

Do you think Lithofin Stain Stop would also allow leaf staining if left for a few days, any experience of that?

After a longer period of time of wet weather it looked as though the exposed paving was also starting to absorb moisture, although I understood Resiblock provided a seal to any water.

Thanks for your help, your above message has been more help that Resiblock have been in the last 7 weeks since reporting the issue.

No worries on the sealing front, the majority of the paving is still covered up so keeping dry, just want to do some sample in the garage and put out over winter to test so I can reseal in spring.

[paulj]

Following on from above thread, now that weather getter better, looking to complete the on hold paving job:-

Strata Rimini polish sandstone paving, some areas initially sealed with Resiblock Invisible Indian Sandstone, some to be laid so stone will be totally bare.

After very poor/no response from Resiblock decided to change sealant type:-

Looking for an impregnator that doesn’t affect the appearance.


Currently thinking between Lithofin Stain Stop – Do they do a solvent based version?

OR Dry Treat Stain Proof

Anyone used these on Polished Indian Sandstone, any views?

Cheers

[London Stone Paving]

Dry Treat is more expensive than Lithofin but in my experience is technically superior. Lasts a lot longer as well, so in reality its cheaper over a ten year period

[lutonlagerlout]

I have used both
lithofin is half the price and easier to install

drytreat is bleeding expensive but if applied correct is there for 15 years

I sealed some harvest sawn in my porch and the stone still gets dirty but its not deep in the stone

it depends what your aspirations are,

LLL

[23johng]

Hi Paul, my apologies for high jacking your thread but I have the same question as I am laying smooth Indian sandstone over the next week or so.

I have been recommended to use Signo flexiguard by my supplier and I wondered if any of you guys have any experience or knowledge of this product good or bad?

Many thanks,

John.