Hi Tony, what a great site. I've learnt so much and following your advice, have managed to lay my patio slabs with great success. Just need to do the pointing now.
However, the slabs are very light in colour, and my pointing is to be very dark. Obviously I need to make the mortar slightly damp so that it goes off, but how to I stop the slabs from absorbing any water from the pointing, which would carry the cement dye with it, and cause staining ?
Any tips ?
Pointing question. - Stopping any staining
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Bobby Spray
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No matter how you do it some staining will be inevitable. However if you catch it early enough I have good success removing it with a rotary wire brush on a cordless drill and a low pressure water (garden hose). I have seen people who use masking tape on their slabs to point, but it takes forever to do.
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lutonlagerlout
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rotary wire brush???? :OBobby Spray wrote:No matter how you do it some staining will be inevitable. However if you catch it early enough I have good success removing it with a rotary wire brush on a cordless drill and a low pressure water (garden hose). I have seen people who use masking tape on their slabs to point, but it takes forever to do.
if you get the consistency right there will be no staining, a lot easier to buy some of rich H's basalt rompox of him,see another thread
cheers LLL
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henpecked
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Tony McC
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I think the OP might be worrying about picture framing, where the edges of the flags soak-up discoloured cement-rich water which then leads to a stain along all the pointed edges.
The best way to avoid this is to ensure the flags aren't overly thirst and that the mortar isn't overly wet. So, soak the flags with clean water 24 hours before you plan to point. The surface needs to be dry when you do the pointing but the flag as a whole needs to be 'damp' so that it is less inclined to draw-in cement-rich water from the pointing mix, which should be as stiff as you can cope with.
See this page
The best way to avoid this is to ensure the flags aren't overly thirst and that the mortar isn't overly wet. So, soak the flags with clean water 24 hours before you plan to point. The surface needs to be dry when you do the pointing but the flag as a whole needs to be 'damp' so that it is less inclined to draw-in cement-rich water from the pointing mix, which should be as stiff as you can cope with.
See this page
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