New sandstone patio

[winnie8art]

We have had a new Indian sandstone patio fitted. I believe the contractors laid it on a solid concrete base and then used mortar to fix it and then it has been grouted - sorry if that is the wrong word. It was grouted a week ago, and even after the nice warm sunny weather we have had there are dark edges to the slabs, presumably from drying out. Should it take this long to dry out? I'm worried that before the grouting was done we had really heavy rain which will have got down between the slabs. It looks pretty awful, should these dark lines eventually go? We want to seal the sandstone to prevent staining, but even after a dewey night the joins look dark so when can we do this? Thanks for your help. As you can see we are simple consumers not experts in any of this!

 

[LooPrEvil]

I think you will find that the darkness will fade after a week or two. It is just the process of the mortar curing.

 

[r896neo]

what did they point it with? Is it the actual slab edges that are dark or just the pointing?

 

[winnie8art]

It was a dry mix (silver sand?), light grey in colour - the dark seemes to have seeped into the edges of the s

Untitled

• winnie8art
• 1 Jul 2011
• 1

labs - see uploaded image

 

[r896neo]

Are you sure it was sand and cement and not a permeable polymeric type jointing material?

Are the joints hard? i.e. could you push a screwdriver into them easily?

 

[winnie8art]

Thanks for replying - the contractor tells us he used a dry mix, not what you suggested. It is hard, ie can't push in a screwdriver but if you rub your fingers over the joints the sand rubs off a bit.

 

[r896neo]

In that case i would as suggested leave it a month or so to dry out totally and hopefully it will fade

 

[winnie8art]

Thanks for your help. We have tried cleaning one of the slab edges with a sample of Perform Hulken pore cleaner and it seems to be working, but this is just a sample of the product. Would you recommend another good cleaner that can be used an penetrates?

 

[r896neo]

Don't put anything on it. It doesn't look at all like cement staining so for now it is safe to assume it is just water and not a stain of any kind. So let it dry out for a while and then if it is not gone in a month or so then you may need to look at other options but hopefully it will have resolved itself.

 

[winnie8art]

Thanks for all your helpful comments - will do as you say and wait and see. Thre's probably a lake of water under it after the rain we had before it was possible to do the pointing.