Am I being conned? (patio slabs don't look the same!)

Metalequine888

Hi everyone,

Newbie poster here! We've just had our patio extended.

The lads have done a great job overall and we're pleased.. except... one section of the patio has what looks like two types of slabs. The chap swears they are the same, except that the more yellow ones have been outside the depot for a while and are therefore weathered. He says the greyer ones are brand new from inside the depot and are not weathered. He says when they seal the slabs this afternoon the colour will look more similar and it will get even closer to a match in colour when more weathering has happened (in a few weeks).

I am not convinced. These look like two completely different slab types to me. Different ridging, different colour.

Any tips please? What do you think?

Thanks.

ButterCheese

They can differ in colour out of the factory, regardless of if they've been weathered or not.  I'd be more concerned about the following:

The slabs have been laid with virtually no gap.  Gap should be anywhere between 5-15mm to get a good finish on the joints.  Yours look more like 2-3mm.

It looks like they have used Silka Fastfix, and whilst on some gaps looks like an attempt has been made to compact it, it's virtually impossible to do properly with such tiny gaps.  Don't expect it to last very long.

Section62

Metalequine888 said:

...He says when they seal the slabs this afternoon the colour will look more similar and it will get even closer to a match in colour when more weathering has happened (in a few weeks).
...

Sealing the slabs should slow down the weathering process... personally it would be the last thing I'd do if there was a significant difference in weathering between batches of slabs.  You'd want the unweathered ones to weather fairly quickly to start blending in with the others.

Metalequine888

Thanks @ButterCheese - I really appreciate your thoughts.
So it's normal for contractors to lay slabs that don't match in colour even though they're the same slab? It looks quite odd, not gonna lie. I had hoped they would look the same colour. Is there any chance of them becoming more similar in colour over time?

mrbuster

To my eyes your old slabs look as though they were originally yellow and the new ones grey.

ButterCheese

Metalequine888 said:

Thanks @ButterCheese - I really appreciate your thoughts.
So it's normal for contractors to lay slabs that don't match in colour even though they're the same slab? It looks quite odd, not gonna lie. I had hoped they would look the same colour. Is there any chance of them becoming more similar in colour over time?

It depends what your expectations are really.  I bought a patio kit online and all of them were slightly different dimensions, varying thicknesses and did not really match anywhere near the colours in the picture.  I didn't really care; they only look new for one summer.

I don't think you are being conned on the non-matching colours front.  They have supplied and laid the slabs which is presumably what you've paid for; not many would bother searching through the delivery to see if they're all exactly the same shade of grey.  

You could either pressure wash/scrub them down and see if that makes a difference.  but if they're all clean and actually a different colour you could ask the tradespeople to take them up and lay new.  They are a few quid each, but that means them coming back and trying to pry them up without cracking the surrounding ones, and re-laying the new ones, after checking that they are the correct colour.  Depends how honest and reasonable they are.

swingaloo

ButterCheese said:

They can differ in colour out of the factory, regardless of if they've been weathered or not.  I'd be more concerned about the following:

The slabs have been laid with virtually no gap.  Gap should be anywhere between 5-15mm to get a good finish on the joints.  Yours look more like 2-3mm.

It looks like they have used Silka Fastfix, and whilst on some gaps looks like an attempt has been made to compact it, it's virtually impossible to do properly with such tiny gaps.  Don't expect it to last very long.

Completely agree with this. I would not be happy with the job.

kazwookie

Look odd to me, like the 'yellow' ones are upside down. I would make them lift them and relay with 'grey ' ones.

Don't like the 'grouting' either. Get that redone.

mta999

They look like different colour slabs

As above, the lads have not done a good job.

Beeblebr0x

Any decent builder should know the gap to leave between slabs. Do they also do tiling by any chance? 

juliedee4663

they look like completely different slabs to me, not just in colour but in design too