ive laid my patio 450mm sq. buff slabs. i need to fill joints. I was going to use easy joint but working out the price/number of tubs its coming out ridiculous. so any advice/ideas anyone has would be welcome. its roughly 14-15 sqm. joints around 45-55mm deep (35mm thick slabs + mortar) and 10-15mm wide. ive thought about sand and cement but dont really want grey joints with buff slabs. ideally i would have a buff/mushroom colour unless you can convince me gray would look good and have something i can sweep in dry. is there anything anyone can suggest? is their a way of colouring a dry sand and cement mix? thanks mark
You can buy cement dye, in many colours,but final colour will depend on the sand (various colours) & cement used. The sands available vary around the UK.
If you can get hold of a yellow (rather than red) plastering sand I would be happy with that as a colour - but it's not my patio. 3:1 mix for pointing. Edit: If they're the slabs in your other thread (colour running), they look grey anyway
they are indeed, i guess they are more greyish than yellow. is plastering sand the same as building sand?
No. Don't use building sand. Plastering sand is a fine washed sharp sand. Depending on where you go it might just be called sharp sand but equally sharp sand might be what some suppliers call concreting sand - that would be too gritty/coarse for what you want. I'm guessing that the stuff on your slabs is release/mould oil by the way. It should go away in time if I'm right.
i will have a look to see where i can get yellow plastering sand. thank you for your help. im hoping it will go away. it was on most of them, i ask my neighbour who made them and he said they will weather in time.
im thinking a combination of snowcrete and yellow plastering sand maybe the way to go, i will go with a 3:1 mix