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

twopenny

A small scrape with a sharp blade in the corner of the different shades should tell you if they are or not. If it's weathered yellow you will soon see.
If you decide to leave it that small scrape will soon blend in as it's used.

The surface pattern looks like a couple of my slabs. They are original and just being relayed. It's not the underside. As they were mine I couldn't say anything and I never notice it now.

Depends how important it is in the long run that it's perfect and how much you paid. If they've other jobs booked you may be waiting a long time 

35har1old

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.

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.

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.

They where tied to the small gap due to the original patio being laid with a small gap

35har1old

kazwookie said:

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.

Yellow ones are the original slabs OP mention it was extended the grey ones are the new slabs as you can see the edge terminating into the garden
I would say they are not a mButterCheese said:

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.

Could easily be £4 to £11 each

bjorn_toby_wilde

If this is a relatively recent build then contractors often butt joint concrete slabs with no grout gap. They could have been forced to lay the new slabs like that to match original.

Also I’ve laid similar slabs at a relative’s place and they are stacked on the pallets with yellow paper between each slab. Could that explain the colour difference?

Jumblebumble

Metalequine888 said:

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.

How odd
Assuming the slabs outside have been stacked and not all faces exposed  they have managed to weather most evenly

Metalequine888

mrbuster said:

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

@mrbuster - Both of these slabs are the new ones laid by the contractor. Yes, he is saying the yellow and the grey ones are the same. It is weathering that is making them look different.

Swipe

The only way to tell if they are identical is to clean a small section of old slab with a pressure washer or get a hard scrubbing brush on one with some neat bleach. To me from the outset, they don't look the same type.

mrbuster

Metalequine888 said:

mrbuster said:

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

@mrbuster - Both of these slabs are the new ones laid by the contractor. Yes, he is saying the yellow and the grey ones are the same. It is weathering that is making them look different.

When you have different batches, you usually mix them together instead of laying them out so that they stand out.