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Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 5:34 pm
by willcraig82
Hi all
I wonder if anyone can offer some guidance on what stains / Marks are present on my patio tiles. I bought the house last year and just getting round to sorting out the garden.
I pressured washed the tiles as they were a bit of a mess. Used a 110 bar pressure washer.
I am trying to figure out if there is any way to remove them or do I need to re-lay the patio.
Link to Google Photos
Thanks in advance everyone
Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:06 am
by dig dug dan
Cheapest of the cheap slabs, that have poor pigmentation on the colour mix. Nothing you can do
My builders merchant sells these, and they clearly state " not to be used as patio slabs"
Quite what else you would use them for is beyond me as they are no good for a shed base as they are riven!
Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2019 6:55 pm
by Tony McC
Dan more or less has it - they are cheap "budget" flags and proof, were it needed, that most of the time you do indeed get what you pay for.
These flags are propduced to a price point rather than a quality threshold, so corners get cut. The cement content is minimal and low quality, with replacement by PFA and/or GGBS not uncommon. The aggregates are just about adequate. The dyes are basic and not colour-fast. The curing process is virtually non-existent, hence the dominance of differential curing and efflorescence.
All these things would be regarded as "aesthetic". They affect the look of the product rather than the performance, arguably. What you have are still, just about, solid flags that are, technically, "fit for purpose", but they don't look pretty. If you want pretty, you have to pay a premium!
There is no fix, no cure, no remedy, nothing that will make them look significantly better. You either learn to live with them, or you rip them up and replace. You *may* find that daubing them with a colour-enhancing sealant makes a slight improvement (but many would argue it makes them look worse!) but even then, you are looking at a time-limited effect. Even the very best sealants (which would probably cost more per square metre than you paid for the flags) need re-doing every few years.
On the plus side, some folk find that they do get used to the flags......eventually!