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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 10:59 am
by Oliver
Hi this last weekend I laid a new patio using black limestone. Now I need to clean it as its a bit dusty and has some minor cement marks on it and I also need to grout it using brush in stuff and I also want to use an impregnator sealant on it. Can anyone advise a timeline and order I should do these things in as I've read that you shouldn't seal it straight away to.let the salts come out? I've also read you should seal asap.
Thanks
Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 5:30 pm
by Oliver
Also what's the best day to day or weekly cleaner for black limestone?
Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 1:37 pm
by Fife Lass
We laid an area aproximately 15sq.mt with black limestone in June/July 2016. We also used a brush-in grouting compound (Stonemarket Fast Point Jointing Compound) which made a very neat job. The grouting was done aproximately a month after laying the paving slabs. Some of the black limestone had unsightly marks and efflorescent stains on them and I was forever washing them with hot soapy water but once they dried again, the stains were still there.
I was intending to use an impregantor sealant on them to stop stains and bird droppings making a mess on them but, on asking advice on here, I was advised to leave them alone for a number of months before sealing them.
It is a year since the paving was laid and all marks and efflorescent stains have gone and all the paving is the same colour now so I have bought Miracle 511 Seal & Enhance to seal them at last.
If you have any marks/stains on the paving at all, wait a number of months for them to fade before you use a sealer.
A bucket of hot soapy water then rinsed with clear water cleans the limestone as good as any some expensive treatments.
Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 7:04 pm
by Tony McC
Use simple soap and water to wash down.
NEVER EVER use an acid or acid-based cleaner - it WILL irreversibly ruin the limestone.
I'd follow the advice given by Fife Lass - just keep it clean for now, certainly for the first 2-3 months, and then look at using a good quality *proven* sealant for black limestone, such as the one she mentions or one of those featured on the Curse of Black Limestone page either later in the summer (September or October are often good months) or leave it until next summer.