Firstly moderators, dont move this to gardening, im after some comments from the regulars who frequent this section.
Im a bit stuck in the middle with a problem on a job, with a very nice customre who weve dfone lots of work for and a supplier who manufacters paving slabs, who weve used countless times. The scenario and problem is this:-
They live on an area of free draining chlak and have a back garden at the bottom of a hill which is probably 90% of the time in the shade. we laid a simple patio for them in may of last year, on an mot sub-base, blue circle based cement mortar bed. After about a month the york stone coloured riven slabs, started to break up in patches on the riven areas, and started to discolour. There was a fair bit of rain, but at that time of year it was still warm and mainly sunny. The manufacturers ended up coming to look at it and in the end we got them to agree to pay for the whole thing to be replaced. (which was a bit heartbreaking as it all had to come through the house!)
We replaced it in august of last year and by early november there were darker patches appearing on the concrete, similar to before. The company came to look at it again and said see how it faired for a few months. It is now in pretty much the same state, with the client telling me she can sweep of powder from the top of the slabs. The company are saying its all down to the climate in the area whhere the slabs are and not their problem. The legal wrangles are an aside and the customer has absolutley no problem with the workmanship, nor does the manufacturer.
They say they have had no problems with any of the other slabs from that or any other batches that thye have made, and i have laid thousands of their slabs and never had a problem like this. Could the damp affect a precast slab so quickly?
I just wondered if anyone has experianced anything similar or may have some views on what is causing it, if anything other than a manufacturing fault. Im goin to look at them next week and ill try and post a photo.
Im a bit stuck in the middle with a problem on a job, with a very nice customre who weve dfone lots of work for and a supplier who manufacters paving slabs, who weve used countless times. The scenario and problem is this:-
They live on an area of free draining chlak and have a back garden at the bottom of a hill which is probably 90% of the time in the shade. we laid a simple patio for them in may of last year, on an mot sub-base, blue circle based cement mortar bed. After about a month the york stone coloured riven slabs, started to break up in patches on the riven areas, and started to discolour. There was a fair bit of rain, but at that time of year it was still warm and mainly sunny. The manufacturers ended up coming to look at it and in the end we got them to agree to pay for the whole thing to be replaced. (which was a bit heartbreaking as it all had to come through the house!)
We replaced it in august of last year and by early november there were darker patches appearing on the concrete, similar to before. The company came to look at it again and said see how it faired for a few months. It is now in pretty much the same state, with the client telling me she can sweep of powder from the top of the slabs. The company are saying its all down to the climate in the area whhere the slabs are and not their problem. The legal wrangles are an aside and the customer has absolutley no problem with the workmanship, nor does the manufacturer.
They say they have had no problems with any of the other slabs from that or any other batches that thye have made, and i have laid thousands of their slabs and never had a problem like this. Could the damp affect a precast slab so quickly?
I just wondered if anyone has experianced anything similar or may have some views on what is causing it, if anything other than a manufacturing fault. Im goin to look at them next week and ill try and post a photo.