Hi all. I bounced over from the Knots board with a question i need help with. My parents have a beautiful 40 year old flagstone patio that needs some love. I’m dealing with 2 problems:
1. Cleaning: moss and the elements have really taken their toll on the color. However, i’ve found that a rubbing stone easily takes off this top, weathered layer and brings the surface back to life. You just have to keep flushing away the slurry that forms. The mortar is much harder though, so its hard to keep a level surface.
2. They recently paid someone to pressure wash it and as you can imagine, some of the stones now have a surface that resembles a frosted cake. The rubbing stone also helps with this, but its a big patio and some of the gouges are quite deep.
What i need is a 16″ diameter rubbing stone to mount on a floor buffer! but i doubt something like this exists (probably for good reason). Any thoughts? Also, what type/brand sealer should i use on this? I remember reading about silane/siloxane?
Thanks,
-brad
Replies
What you described is very much like what the terazzo guys use to level out an old floor. While I seriously doubt you could convince them the run their European high-dollar machine over your patio, you might check with your local rental outfit. Some of them do stock concrete grinders and scarifiers, one of them might be suitable for your purpose. Try Sunbelt's catalog:
http://www.sunbelsunbeltrentals.com/catalog/default.aspx?pgtype=prdsubgrp&shwprt=y&pg=54&psg=340