Blasted Sandstone - types / costs to source / lay

[flyingjase]

Does anyone know a good place to source blasted sandstone? Yes there are loads on the internet if you do a google search, but it's a minefield and I can't see what the difference is in quality for the price.

For example people are talking about Indian stone as it's cheaper. That's great, but will be last the distance? I don't want to be relaying it in 2 years time.

Also, what are the costs to lay (I'm in Buckinghamshire)?

I've been quoted £25 m2 to lay a concrete and mesh base plus another £27 m2 to lay the slabs themselves on top of say £25 m2 to buy the slabs, meaning £77 m2 in total plus the VAT (£92.40 m2 all in)

Does that sound about right?

[shimmey69]

Sounds about right for indian sandstone it's at £100-120 all in per m2 in London.

One thing I will say is please please please get it sealed once it's down and I don't mean thompson's ste from b&q I mean the £45 per litre stuff with life guaranteed as sandstone is very pourus so attracts dirt algae etc and once in a pig to get out.

[netherfield]

The Indian stone we have down will certainly last the distance,although I've been told there are different qualities of stone now coming from India.

[shimmey69]

Also what size is it going to be as will make some difference to discount available from suppliers

[flyingjase]

shimmey69 said:

Sounds about right for indian sandstone it's at £100-120 all in per m2 in London.

One thing I will say is please please please get it sealed once it's down and I don't mean thompson's ste from b&q I mean the £45 per litre stuff with life guaranteed as sandstone is very pourus so attracts dirt algae etc and once in a pig to get out.

Good shout - hadn't even thought of it

[shimmey69]

flyingjase said:

Good shout - hadn't even thought of it

Most people don't until they have filthy dirty slippery patio!!

What size area is it that your doing??

[flyingjase]

shimmey69 said:

Most people don't until they have filthy dirty slippery patio!!

What size area is it that your doing??

210 m2 so a fair bit hence trying to find the most economical way of doing it and a good source of slabs.

I have just ordered samples of a limestone:-

www.stone-traders.co.uk/tandur-yellow-limestone.ht...

and a sandstone:-

www.stone-traders.co.uk/indian-sandstones/sahara-s...

The sandstone is £12 m2 more expensive and I can't work out why.

[Hereward]

Agree with the sealing of the stone.

Just had my outdoor pool surround done in Indian sandstone and it was sealed with "Dry-Treat". Also consider Lithofin sealants.

[shimmey69]

Hereward said:

Agree with the sealing of the stone.

Just had my outdoor pool surround done in Indian sandstone and it was sealed with "Dry-Treat". Also consider Lithofin sealants.

Dry treat is classed as one of the best sealers there is but to get the guarantee you have to have it installed by an approved applicator

the one thing i would say about ordering online is it can be a mindfield in regards to what you recieve, some can be broken, chipped, not matching colours etc so having a good relationship with a stone yard that you can go to will enable you to swap over broken or not matching slabs.

just noticed that you were quoted for putting down base of concrete and mesh, that can lead to waterlogging in the slabs as its has no drainage so should be laid on crushed concrete/hardcore as this allows for better drainage but also provides a good solid base.

Hope this helps??

[shimmey69]

This is what indian snadstone looks like if you dont seal it!


so overall looks like this!!


But with hard work, 2 tonnes of blast material, road compressor and sand blaster it can be made to look like this.

[mrmaggit]

Hereward said:

Agree with the sealing of the stone.

Just had my outdoor pool surround done in Indian sandstone and it was sealed with "Dry-Treat". Also consider Lithofin sealants.

I'm glad you have more faith in the sealer than I do.

But I'm bored stless with telling people not to use it. Good luck.

[shimmey69]

mrmaggit said:

I'm glad you have more faith in the sealer than I do.

But I'm bored stless with telling people not to use it. Good luck.

Out of curiousity what's wrong with it??

[mrmaggit]

shimmey69 said:

mrmaggit said:

I'm glad you have more faith in the sealer than I do.

But I'm bored stless with telling people not to use it. Good luck.

Out of curiousity what's wrong with it??

The guarantees offered by the manufacturers have more holes than colanders. I had a chap on the display a couple of years back who had set up a company applying sealers to stone. He'd done all the courses, and any problem was always down to the stone, the applicator, the weather, animals, never the product.

The problem is that the stone is natural, so it has varying densities. This means that the sealant takes in some areas, tries to take in others, and gets very bored trying to seal in others. What then happens is the sealer fails and leaves what I'd describe as a "tea-bag" effect of patchiness. Eventually it fails completely, and you get your stone back. It just looks bloody horrible whilst it's failing.

And before you all start how good sealant is, we applied it to our stone display. What I described above is exactly what happened. For about six months it was embarrassing showing customers the display, except that it was good for showing people what sealants really did.

As for the pictures showing growth over the stone, if you want to stop that, use a weedkiller at the beginning of the season.

Don't forget that the stone is the same all the way through, and you would have to be pretty determined to wear the stone away in less than say four generations.

I'm off to the pub.

maggit

[shimmey69]

Well that's not the guarantee that I know they will completely redo the whole thing weather that bs applicator error, product error, stone error etc do I think you may well be well out of date in things if not slightly mistaken?!

[mrmaggit]

Like I said, feel free to do what you like.

I really don't care of that's what you want to do.

I'm just telling you what I know happens, if you want to ignore that, fair enough.

[Gingerbread Man]

When I was on the landscaping trade ~3 years ago, we enquired about sealers for sandstone. The rep warned us off them.
So we never used them. A good pressure wash yearly or so keeps it in good nick.

[deanrufleg]

Just chucking in my 2 penneth worth.
Been landscaping for 20 odd years.

Have never sealed a sandstone patio I have laid yet.
Out of thousands of sq metres laid, i have never recieved any call backs
complaing that it has growth/ moss/ lichen on it.

I have however seen yorkstone/ sandstone with growth on it, but these have
generally been on patios that are are in shady/ damp areas.

At op, have you tried Silverland stone, or Landscape Stone in Tonbridge?

[deanrufleg]

Just chucking in my 2 penneth worth.
Been landscaping for 20 odd years.

Have never sealed a sandstone patio I have laid yet.
Out of thousands of sq metres laid, i have never recieved any call backs
complaing that it has growth/ moss/ lichen on it.

I have however seen yorkstone/ sandstone with growth on it, but these have
generally been on patios that are are in shady/ damp areas.

At op, have you tried Silverland stone, or Landscape Stone in Tonbridge?

[Mojooo]

Gingerbread Man said:

When I was on the landscaping trade ~3 years ago, we enquired about sealers for sandstone. The rep warned us off them.
So we never used them. A good pressure wash yearly or so keeps it in good nick.

I laid sandstone last year - over the winter I got a lot of green stuff on it but it came off with a pressure washer.

I would seal it but the stuff is too bloody expensive at the moment.

[Gandalf Beckwith]

Apologies for slight hijack, but anyone know of any good landscaping businesses in South Manchester who I can contact to get some of this stuff put down properly? Already have the material, but if I try this myself I'll only balls it up!