Can I renovate paving slabs?

The paving slabs outside my back door look awful. They're years old but none of them are loose. The surface has gone from them and you can only see remnants of the colours. I can't afford to have all the slabs taken up and renewed. Is there any way of making them look better?
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Comments

  • melanzana
    melanzana Posts: 3,953 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    Have you tried to pressure wash them? Often works well. Try that first. It will certainly improve things. Then re sand between the joins.

    Someone who knows more than I do about these things might have more ideas though.
  • mrsyardbroom
    mrsyardbroom Posts: 2,033 Forumite
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    The actual surface has gone off the slabs. There are bits of colour left but I need something to coat them with.
    Don't mess with pensioners. :cool:
  • martinthebandit
    martinthebandit Posts: 4,422 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts
    Clean them, as has been said with a pressure washer, and then google block paver paint or similar
  • mrsyardbroom
    mrsyardbroom Posts: 2,033 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    These are the slabs I want to renovate. I will clean them before painting/resurfacing.61056555_10157123028728006_7842172097047560192_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-1.fna&oh=6290ceee516b0739132548fa06e9db87&oe=5D5DE049
    Don't mess with pensioners. :cool:
  • melanzana
    melanzana Posts: 3,953 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    These are the slabs I want to renovate. I will clean them before painting/resurfacing.61056555_10157123028728006_7842172097047560192_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-1.fna&oh=6290ceee516b0739132548fa06e9db87&oe=5D5DE049

    They don't look too bad at all. (better than mine at the minute!). A good pressure wash will reveal the colours again.
  • mrsyardbroom
    mrsyardbroom Posts: 2,033 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I'll go to the paint recycling shop and see what they've got.
    If you haven't heard of paint recycling it's a great way to save money. Lots of people only use a bit of a tin of paint and then leave it lying around. Community Repaint is a scheme that recycles all this old paint by selling it people who will use it. It only costs around £2 a litre. I bought 5 litres of unopened vinyl silk paint recently for £10 and a a litre of white gloss for £2.
    Don't mess with pensioners. :cool:
  • kazwookie
    kazwookie Posts: 14,215 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    1. Power wash them first.
    2. How many are there in total? look on FB or similar to see if anyone is giving away FOC the number you need if you want to replace them, then get someone to help you lift the old ones and relay with the FOC ones.
    3. If you paint them make sure it is non slip paint, as if it is the wrong paint and they get wet (rain / snow) they will be slippery and you could fall over when walking on them, as I found out to my cost some years ago and ended up with a broken wrist.
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  • mrsyardbroom
    mrsyardbroom Posts: 2,033 Forumite
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    Thanks. I don't want to relay the slabs but I'll get anti slip paint.
    Don't mess with pensioners. :cool:
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,038 Forumite
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    Thanks. I don't want to relay the slabs but I'll get anti slip paint.

    Masonry paint might possibly work.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • DorsetLad
    DorsetLad Posts: 55 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts
    Are you sure the "surface has gone"? All the slabs I've used don't have a separate surface as such; instead the concrete is the same colour all the way through. Your slabs look to me to be a mix of cream and grey slabs that are mostly now covered with lichen. As suggested above, first try a pressure sprayer to get rid of the lichen. You may be surprised at the brightness of the colours that are revealed. Our patio slabs become uniformly dirty grey by the end of each winter, but pressure spraying then returns them to the original mix of cream and red.

    I wouldn't recommend painting them. In my opinion the paint will wear off quite quickly and they could then look even worse.
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