colourwash for slabs?

izzyeckerslike · 2 Apr 2009

The slabs outside our patio door are old weathered dirty grey & some with large gaps between them, they were laid long ago by some incompetent DIY'er

We've scraped out all the weeds & filled the gaps with mortar mix so that alone has made a huge difference but we wonder if it's possible to do a cement colour wash somehow?

The yellow cement colour powder would do the trick but how is it best to make sure it doesn't wear off ? we tried a test patch mixing it as directed but it dried too fast presumably & is rather powdery so maybe it needs more than a wash but floated on with a trowel?

Alastairreid · 2 Apr 2009

oxide cement colourant will wear off very quickly! it is supposed to be mixed evenly through a mortar mix.
just adding water and painting on will not work on the long term i'm afraid.

izzyeckerslike · 3 Apr 2009

Does it need some kind of primer such as PVA applied first or is it better to mix some in with the cement/sand mix?

Thermo · 3 Apr 2009

no it wont work. it will wear off of the slabs

breezer · 3 Apr 2009

years ago my dad laid a patio, red yellow and white slabs, after about 6 years you could not tell which was what colour, they all "faded"

noseall · 4 Apr 2009

IT WON'T WORK!

joe-90 · 4 Apr 2009

It'll work for a while. I left some nails on my patio once and the oxide stains were there for over a year. The yellow stain is the same iron oxide. Just try it on an unused slab and see what happens.

stuart45 · 4 Apr 2009

For colour washing brickwork you mix up the colour solution and then add alum or white copperas as a fixing agent. Bricks however are different to slabs so I doubt if they will hold the colour for long. Have you tried just cleaning them up with a pressure washer?

diynot

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.

Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

colourwash for slabs?

breezer

Similar threads