HOW TO LAY+GROUT FLAGSTONE SLABS | PRO GROUTING NATURAL STONE SAND JOINTS |MASONRY PATIO PAVERS WORK

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Hi this is Carl the landscape guy. In this video I will show you how we complete cement-bonded grouting of natural stone slabs. This chapel forecourt is being redesigned. The natural stone slabs laid in sand have sagged over the years, forming trip hazard joints. The plates will be re-installed later, so they will be picked up, cleaned and stored off to the side. The dirt is excavated out to the planned size and a base layer of mineral crushed stone is prepared and compacted. Then we set the frame stones. On the gravel surface, the sandstone slabs are now placed in a layer of permeable concrete. An adhesion compound is applied to the underside of the sandstone slabs. The entire chapel forecourt is laid this way. Meanwhile, the work for the sandstone wall has started. The wall will frame the little forecourt at one side as a retaining wall. You will find a detailed video about natural stone masonry on my channel, I’ll also link it at the end of this video. Okay that was it for the preparatory work, because this video is specifically about how to grout natural stone slabs. Before grouting the slabs are watered well. Moisturizing is very important, even more when it is hot out, so that the natural stone does not draw moisture from the fresh grout filling later on. For mixing, we fill a bucket with water. The mixing ratio is 5 L of water per 25 kg of cement. If the mixing ratio is wrong, color differences may occur after hardening. Therefore, always try to use the same mixing ratio for the entire area. For very narrow joints, the mixture can be a little thinner, so add more water. These are joint widths of about 1-3 inches. With these wider joints, the material can be mixed with a little less water, making it a little thicker. Mixing is best done with an electric mixer. Some mortars have coarser proportions of material, so make sure you have the right mixing tip. I would recommend one that is open at the bottom for easier and quicker whisking. We slowly add more water until the mixture is right. As soon as the dark filler material begins to deposit black streaks on the surface, it has enough water. Here we use the Marbos PFM - ZE melan in 25kg bags. The mixed batch should then be applied promptly onto the slabs. Since the mortar starts to thicken immediately, we start to work it into the joints right away. The joints are to be well-filled and the excess material is to be pulled off. The quicker the excess material is removed, the less it needs to be washed off later. The outer edge of the slabs joints should be sealed up before grouting, so that no grout can seep out the sides. If the mortar becomes too thick, it can be slightly rewetted with some water. While one employee distributes the grout, a second guy should mix the material so that there are as few breaks as possible during grouting. The mortar must now be washed from the surface of the natural stone slabs before it sets too much. But wait until the new grout is slightly hardened. There are two methods for cleaning the slabs that we would suggest. For the first one, it is smart to lay out a wooden board to protect the new grouts. For washing, a professional wash box should be used and filled with clean water. Then the natural stone surface is washed with a sponge board. First, a surface section is washed with circular movements. This loosens the mortar from the surface and smaller groves. Then wash out the sponge board before wiping the surface clean. It is important to always pull in one direction and put the sponge board down on its entire surface. As soon as mortar streaks are visible, the sponge board should be washed out again. Also, depending on the size of the area, the water in your box should be changed every now and then. With this method you can work your way out of the corner. For surfaces with a higher proportion of joints, it’s possible to easily pull out the joint with the sponge. Try to pull across or diagonally and not along the joint. For deeper spots a regular cleaning sponge can be used, but this is not suitable for washing larger surfaces. The second option is to wash the surface by spraying it with a fan spray nozzle. This method speeds up the process, but requires more attention and practice. ..
#grouting #flagstone #grout

[randomperson]

It's always a pleasure to watch people who care about their craft make something beautiful. Those guys are a bunch of pro's.

[headachebaby]

Wow, that slab cleaning with the sponge took great skills to make it look so easy.

[afzr]

My back hurts just from watching the video, I hand it to these guys for the hard work they do!!

[garylam]

Thanks
This is so helpful, been around this work my whole life .
However being an electrician never paid much attention, to busy doing my work .
Now my daughter is in desperate need of some patio stone needing something besides gritty stone .
Wish I had paid more attention when I was younger .
Almost 70 and never attempted a finished outdoor patio stone refinishing .
With this video I am fairly confident that
I can pull this off .
Thanks so much
Very Helpful

[IMOO]

Wow, that’s a lot of work and these workers seem dedicated to doing a really good, thorough job.

[stevebrough]

Nice video! It's refreshing to see work being done with old school values in mind.

[souldrummer]

I'm a stone mason bricklayer from Australia. Was hoping I found a quicker way to grout. But no, goes back to what we do, but we hand grout on knees following by same roller bucket. We must all hate grouting from around the world haha. But we do use some cleaning vinegar in our cleaning bucket, it helps with smears.

[antMBTC]

You guys do a very professional job. Not everyone puts the time in like that. 20 years that will still look awesome

[Pamela.B]

Those men do impressive work. Dirty job & amazing results. Beautiful! Thank you for a great video 👏🏻

[p]

Excellent vid, step by step. Thx. That Dutch guy knows his stuff!

[robindoner]

Liebe Grusse from Colorado! My wife Sandra (from Fulda) look forward to using your helpful tips to mortar our Flagstone patio we just finished laying in. Danke!

[Mic_Glow]

Not sure why I watched this, but it was awesome.

[strno_life]

0:27 Those are some amazing gloves even we carpenters and other workers use i noticed no joke.

[billwilson]

That will be beautiful for as long as it stands. no one will ever want to change the look.

[dek]

WOW - that's a lot of work!!! Beautiful results - thank you.

[scottfindlay]

I swept my dry powder grout into my stones then wet it with a light sprayer of water, still there and looks great after 15 years, and no messy wet crap to trowel around and have to clean up the

[ggalahadx]

This is an incredibly fast way to do grout but it has worse integrity and a shorter life. Alot of mistakes were made in this video. It makes me super happy cause I primarily repair poor masonry.

[themadhatter]

This looks a lot easier than filling every joint by hand that's for sure. Pretty amazed at how quickly it starts to set when poured that wet

[iviaverick]

I have tons of flagstone just laid on dirt in my backyard, and this is exactly what I need to do. After seeing how much labor goes into it though, I may abandon my typical DIY mentality and hire someone.

[brikfiend]

Great Job ! Being a Bricklayer I can appreciate the skill involved. . . ..