Darkening block paving
Jon Rouse
N.L....@bham.ac.uk (Nigel Brown) wrote:
>Our builder is laying a block paving patio (OK, I was going to d-i-m, but
>we are already half way through the summer). The 'charcoal' blocks are
>considerably lighter than the sample we originally chose to match the
>existing late 18th century brick paving, and do not look good.
>
>Has anyone any tips to darken them? I guess sump oil would work, but be
>messy. I am told that pig 'manure' is used by stone masons to age stone.
When we were darkening brickwork to match the existing in Liverpool, we
used soot and (runny) cow manure.
--
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Nigel Brown
Our builder is laying a block paving patio (OK, I was going to d-i-m, but
we are already half way through the summer). The 'charcoal' blocks are
considerably lighter than the sample we originally chose to match the
existing late 18th century brick paving, and do not look good.
Has anyone any tips to darken them? I guess sump oil would work, but be
messy. I am told that pig 'manure' is used by stone masons to age stone.
Anyone know of anything less offensive that will work on kiln-fired
blocks? I would like to do it quickly.
Nigel Brown.
--
Nigel L. Brown Email: N.L....@bham.ac.uk
School of Biological Sciences Tel: (+44) 121-414-5465
The University of Birmingham Fax: (+44) 121-414-5907
Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
John Stumbles
On Fri, 16 Aug 1996, Nigel Brown wrote:
> Our builder is laying a block paving patio ... The 'charcoal' blocks
> are considerably lighter than the sample we originally chose to match
> the existing late 18th century brick paving, and do not look good.
>
> Has anyone any tips to darken them?
When they make those concrete fake-cobble drives there's some colouring
stuff they apply to get the dark grey almost black 'cobble' colour.
Dunno where you get it ... maybe you can find someone doing one of those
jobs and blag some off them?
--
John Stumbles j.d.st...@reading.ac.uk
Computer Services, University of Reading http://www.rdg.ac.uk/~suqstmbl
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90% of everything is crud
Nigel Brown
> On Fri, 16 Aug 1996, Nigel Brown wrote:
>
> > Our builder is laying a block paving patio ... The 'charcoal' blocks
> > are considerably lighter than the sample we originally chose to match
> > the existing late 18th century brick paving, and do not look good.
> >
> > Has anyone any tips to darken them?
Thanks for the suggestions I received. The builder found a couple of
compounds - one is a seal, which darkens the bricks, but makes them look
plasticised and prevents weathering, the other is a dye that seems to
require being put on as a thick slurry at great expense in order to get
significant colour change.
The rain hgas made a grat difference to the colour! We will now probably
let the English climate do its stuff until spring and then try the soot
and cow manure.
Nigel Brown
Phillip Archer
In article
<Pine.SOL.3.95.960829...@suma3.reading.ac.uk>,
suqs...@reading.ac.uk says...
>
>On Fri, 16 Aug 1996, Nigel Brown wrote:
>
>> Our builder is laying a block paving patio ... The 'charcoal' blocks
>> are considerably lighter than the sample we originally chose to match
>> the existing late 18th century brick paving, and do not look good.
>>
>> Has anyone any tips to darken them?
>
Harcros sell a sealant which gives a protective layer and also darkens
the blocks. Its called :
"Resiblock Superior High Specification Joint & Paver sealer"
Price: £25 for a 5 litre tin.
I've just been laying a patio with Marshalls blocks which are described
as grey/brown in the brochure (and look it) but are a lot lighter in
reality. Marshalls sell a product called Keybond which I imagine does a
similar job to Resiblock.