The Brew Cabin

I am in the process ( about 1/4 way through)of laying some very nice riven Yorkstone type flooring throughout our lounge and hallway. (Hopefully not too flakey!)I have 2 questions:

1) They are being laid on a lime mortar but are as yet un-grouted (average gap is 1-5mm). Can they be effectively grouted some days after laying or should I instruct floor layers to grout 'as they go'?

2) We want to maintain as natural a look as possible BUT a)give some stain protection to the surface and b) bring out (without achieving any finish) the colour variation. There appear to be a number of products on the market designed for this purpose - does anyone have any experience with the specific type of stone which we have (sourced from Perfitts of Diss, Suffolk)? The colouration is primarily buff/yellowish with some nice grey and red variation.

Ivor Butcher

We prefer to point the joints as we proceed, so that the pointing mortar and the buttering mortar all set as one, but there's no strong reason why they can't be left a few days, as long as the empty joints don't get filled with crap in the meantime. :)

With regard to sealing your flags, I've asked the world's leading paving sealant company to advise on this matter and contribute something to the website. Mr Craig Amor, CEO of Resiblock has written the following, which will shortly be appearing as an addition to the Sealants page....

"We have two products that are particularly suitable for this purpose, the first is RESIBLOCK '22' ULTRA (low sheen finish) and the second is RESIBLOCK SUPERIOR ULTRA (wet-look finish). Both of these products are based on aliphatic TDI technology and provide outstanding resistance to a wide range of household chemicals whilst remaining totally light stable (critical where part of the flooring is exposed to daylight and part is in shadow). Unlike the standard '22'/SUPERIOR products these have a high degree of adhesion and do not rely solely on the porosity of the substrate for mechanical bonding, as a consequence they are both particularly suitable for both wet-cast and hydraulically pressed paving.

The only caveat being is that if the floors have been pre-treated with another sealer particularly one which is silicone based (i.e. Thomsons Water Seal) then our material may not properly adhere to this surface.

Both provide very attractive aesthetics and can withstand regular cleaning with household and janitorial chemicals. As with all our products, 0.25 litre samples are available FOC to potential users to ensure compatibility."

Hope that helps, Ivor. :)

Thanks Tony. I think we'll start by grouting and try some of the products on sample flags for effect. I hadn't thought about possible changes in appearance due to daylight exposure - very relevant given the size of the windows in our property.