The Brew Cabin

Hi,

can anyone recommend a supplier of Indian Sandstone flags in the South East?

I just bought a load of grey paving stones from a supplier (who shall remain nameless), but they sold me stone that had already been sold to someone else, and now they can't replace it. As they are becoming increasingly hard to contact I am getting more and more suspicious !!

Naturally I am half-way through my garden landscaping project, so I may need to find some stone quickly.

Also, I am concerned about Tony's comments about the quality of stone available. Any advice about what to look for? The stone I bought was only £28/m2, and although many stones had unattractive iron oxide spots on them, we were able to choose the ones we wanted and reject the duff ones.

Thanks in anticipation.

Great web site Tony, btw.
Pete Cutter

Marshalls are selling their "Haworth" riven stone for only 31 quid per m2, and, unlike some of the Indian stone, it's bladdy good stuff, and can be had in a light grey colour.

Just before last Xmas, a regular visitor to the site told us about a supplier he'd found for his Indian Stone.: maybe it'd be worth you having a look....

Pinks Hill Landscape Merchants
Wood Street Village
Guildford
Surrey
GU3 3BP
Tel. 01483 571 1620
Fax. 01483 536816
E-mail sales AT pinkshill.com
www.pinkshill.com


...if you find anyone else, I'd be interested to hear about them.

Hi Tony,

thanks for your response.

Perhaps you can better prices for Marshalls flags than I can buying them retail. I was originally looking at buying either the Haworth Moor Riven or the Greenmoor Rustic from Marshalls, but at around £23 for a 600x600 flag (Travis Perkins), I make that about £65/sq metre!

Thanks for the reference to pinkshill, which is useful. However having paid my supplier I have decided to re-plan and order a variety of rectangles from them instead of waiting for squares to arrive.

By the way, most of the Indian stone I have seen comes in a width of 56cm and lengths of 42cm, 56cm, 70cm, 84cm and 112cm.

With these sizes, I figure that the only option is to lay them in rows that are 56cm wide, using different lengths to break it up. I couldn't work out a way to lay them in two directions, especially as I couldn't get any of the square (56x56) flags. Any comments on this plan?

Thanks again for your help. I will email you the details of my supplier if you are interested. I think they have been caught short by the situation in India, but I'm not sure I could recommend them at present. They did sell me some lovely cobbles (setts?) though, which look great now they have been laid.

Thanks again for your help.
Pete

You can get a much better price than that if you shop around. TP have a bloody abysmal pricing policy – they’d charge sixpence for a penny lolly, the robbing abstrads! ;)

I was obliged to but a 25kg block of roofing bitumen from them a couple of months ago – 15.60 plus VAT. The very same item at my local roofing distributor is 8.20 plus VAT. They are a last resort for me.

It is possible to lay a coursed or a random pattern using those sizes you quote, Pete – it just takes a bit of thinking about. :)

Send me the details of your supplier – info AT pavingexpert.com – and I’ll see if I can find a local supplier of the Marshalls stone for you, at a sensible price.

Has anybody any further experience Pinks Hill of Guildford ... any comments on their Indian sandstone ?

I've just picked up some samples and to my uneducated eye it looks good ... no crumbling at the edges. Cost of £26/m2 which seems to be a very good deal. They inform me they have their own quary in India hence have tight quality control ... but dedicating a whole quarry to just one distribution point in the UK seems a bit unlikely. Suspect what they really mean is they just source everything from one quarry hence they get a predictable quality. They also said they don't offer any gaurantee at all on the stone which I didn't think was a good sign ... surely a good supplier should be confident of the stone. I imagine I could cover off most problems by checking the entire order carefully prior to delivery but a few years gaurantee would be far more preferable.

The other down side seemed to be expensive delivery ... in the region of £50 for just 25 miles which seems a lot.

Has anybody found other distributors down south ?

In additon to the sandstone, they also have Indian slate at £28/m2. I was wondering about using Indian for the majority of the patio (approx. 20m2) and putting 2 or 3 larg slate slabs in to break up the design. Any comments on how slate looks next to Indian sandstone (silver grey sandstone) ? What colour pointing would look good for both paving styles ? Would I have to upgrade the base to someting more solid for the entire patio as a result of using slate ?

Thanks

Jed

I visited Pinks Hill last month and, while their imported stone is generally ok, I would not be interested in buying without a quality guarantee and I reckon they are trying it on, probably in an attempt to save up to have that bloody awful dirt track made up into a decent roadway!

Alternative suppliers...

Kent-Blaxill at Colchester - 01206 216000 - ask for Julian Wood and tell him I referred you. Some luvverly stone, and it's guaranteed.

H.Butterflied in Luton - Their chief buyer told me they are sending 4-6 wagon loads of paving into London Village each day, and they sell to the trade, so it has to be good. 01582 491100 - Ted Holmes is your man to ask.

Silverland Stone at Chertsea - very large stocks and a much tidier operation than Pinks Hill. 01932 569277 - ask for Nigel and again, you can use me as a reference. They also have branches at Codicote and Tring in Herts, Sevenoaks in Kent and Handcross in W.Sussex.

The slate blends well with the Indian stone, but, as with all these projects, it's a matter of taste. Just because I think it looks good, doesn't mean eveyone will think it looks good. A decent supplier will allow you to put the two side-by-side so you can make up your own mind.

I always think light-coloured stone paving looks best with a dark mortar - black or dark brown - whereas some very dark paving, such a black marble or mica-rich granite, looks better with a light coloured mortar. Again it's you that has to live with it, not me, so do a test panel before you commit yourself.

Suggest you try CED at West Thurrock. Tel 01708 867237. I have used them several times and can highly recommend them. Prices extremely competitive and quality excellent.

Do you know what sort of money they are charging, per m², for thir imported stone? Do they sell concrete block paving?

I was chatting with a Landscape Contractor in Ruislip a couple of months back, and he mentioned CED, but I never got the chance to visit their yard and see what sort of set-up they have.