Contractor has messed up by flagstone patio - plz help! (Arizona, concrete)

[PakBrain]

I had a contractor put a big flagstone patio (4 pallets of Arizona Red Flagstone). They got late on completion and when I pushed too hard they arrived and finsihed the patio with white grout couple hours before the rain (I was not at home). It rained with all white concrete spread over red stones. Worst thing is they left this as it is overnight. Next day they scrapped stones but there are many many white patches still left on stones. Also, these are sand stones so red color got absorbed into white grout/filling as well making the whole patio complete disaster.

Long story short $10K in cost and it is a big mess now that I have to fix by myself now.

I am thinking of getting something to virtually grind about half inches from top of whole patio to let the new surface come out. There is a concrete grinder at home depot I can rent for about $100 a day with metallic rotating blades at the bottom.

My concern is that flagstones are basically sandstones. If blad hits an edge, it is going to chip the stone off instead of cutting it smooth. What I am thinking is putting a thin layer of white concrete on whole patio again and let it dry quicky under a sun so that white color does not get too much absrobed in red stones.

Does this make sense or I am going to make it worst?

Any ideas to save us from $10k in drain are highly appreciated.

Thanks!

[DKVA]

I'm sorry if I'm being ignorant but why do you have to clean up their mess. If they didn't do do the job properly and you are not happy they should remedy the situation. No final payment until the job is done to satisfaction.
My DH would have been all over them.

[texdav]

Were they bonded and insured?

[AAbsolute]

Originally Posted by PakBrain

I had a contractor put a big flagstone patio (4 pallets of Arizona Red Flagstone). They got late on completion and when I pushed too hard they arrived and finsihed the patio with white grout couple hours before the rain (I was not at home). It rained with all white concrete spread over red stones. Worst thing is they left this as it is overnight. Next day they scrapped stones but there are many many white patches still left on stones. Also, these are sand stones so red color got absorbed into white grout/filling as well making the whole patio complete disaster.

Long story short $10K in cost and it is a big mess now that I have to fix by myself now.

I am thinking of getting something to virtually grind about half inches from top of whole patio to let the new surface come out. There is a concrete grinder at home depot I can rent for about $100 a day with metallic rotating blades at the bottom.

My concern is that flagstones are basically sandstones. If blad hits an edge, it is going to chip the stone off instead of cutting it smooth. What I am thinking is putting a thin layer of white concrete on whole patio again and let it dry quicky under a sun so that white color does not get too much absrobed in red stones.

Does this make sense or I am going to make it worst?

Any ideas to save us from $10k in drain are highly appreciated.

Thanks!

I've been working in construction for 20 years and have seen a lot. I understand how hard it can be to try and make someone come back and really cure a problem. I'd believe that chances are they may not be able to make it right for you. If you've exhausted the conventional means to making them rectify the situation it may be time for you to try and fix it. (like you already said)

When I was 19 I grouted some stone, outdoors, in July and the cure time for the grout was minutes. I had no idea that it would set up 10 times faster than a job at room temperature. I had a mess similar to what your'e describing.

In that case the stones surface was shaley. If I used to much elbow grease the surface would chip. I experimented and settled with using Muratic Acid and various brushes and steel wool. It was painstaking. Muratic Acid does seem to be the one liquid that best releases cementitious material like concrete, mortar and grout. It has been known to etch and stain, so as always, try an inconspicous test area.

I use abrasive diamond pads quite a bit. They have never let me down when I shape granite, marble or stone. I know this is not free but, there is a company called Granquartz that is a distributor to the granite fabricating industry who sells hand held grinders and stone polishing pads.

If I were in your shoes I would consider that. The pads come in various grits. A 50 pad takes down stone quickly. A 100 pad takes it down less quickly and a 3000 pad will barely remove anything but will make stone like a polished mirror.

If you go that route you may spend $300.00 or $350.00 on a grinder and polishing pads. Granquartz.com

[AAbsolute]

I was thinking...We did a travertine floor that was not as even at the joints as I liked. We used our wood floor sander that was a drum sander on it with a 36 grit and it made good time. The surface was flat when we were finished, but not as machine slick as when we started. We cheated a bit by using a wet look sealer and that restored the appearance.

Home Depots by me rent floor sanders that are drum sanders and they sell various grit paper. This is very unconventional but it worked for me. If you rent the sander and buy paper you can return the machine and unused paper if it does not produce the results.

You'll see when you use the machine that dragging the machine backwards and lifting up hard on the handle puts the most pressure on the stone surface which may be what you want.

[PakBrain]

Thank you all for ideas. This contractor was not insured (came as a referral). All I could do is not pay them last installment that saved me $300 out of $3000 job *sigh*

Went to Home Depot and discussed my situation. They had no clear idea but suggested to try floor sanders with grit paper of my choice (like AAbsolute suggested). They wont let me try something (have to pay for 4 hrs min to try something). The problem with the sander is going to be the sand-stone; it is going to fill the grit paper in a moment and we will be consuming like one paper per stone which is not acceptable.

I am going to give it a try and if this does not work they have shown me something with rotating steel blades at the bottom (concrete grinder?) that I am going to try next. At this point anything will look better than what we have today.

[AAbsolute]

Originally Posted by PakBrain

Thank you all for ideas. This contractor was not insured (came as a referral). All I could do is not pay them last installment that saved me $300 out of $3000 job *sigh*

Went to Home Depot and discussed my situation. They had no clear idea but suggested to try floor sanders with grit paper of my choice (like AAbsolute suggested). They wont let me try something (have to pay for 4 hrs min to try something). The problem with the sander is going to be the sand-stone; it is going to fill the grit paper in a moment and we will be consuming like one paper per stone which is not acceptable.

I am going to give it a try and if this does not work they have shown me something with rotating steel blades at the bottom (concrete grinder?) that I am going to try next. At this point anything will look better than what we have today.

Did you fool around with muratic acid? When we used it we cut it with water to tone it down a bit. Good luck.

[SD4020]

I would be careful about using muratic acid being Arizona flagstone tends to be porous and might damage the stone even more.

Would a 4000 PSI pressure washer do anything? It might erode the stone... Was the rain in the forecast? It might considered an act of God. However the contractor should remedy it.

[PakBrain]

Muratic Acid has took beautiful red color out of my stones. Went to Sun Belt rentals and told the guy my story. He has recommended concrete grinder to chip off 1/4 to 1/2 inch ($300 for one day rental!).

It is going to make stone surface smooth but I have to do it in a hope to bring colors back; will keep you guys posted

[AAbsolute]

Originally Posted by PakBrain

Muratic Acid has took beautiful red color out of my stones. Went to Sun Belt rentals and told the guy my story. He has recommended concrete grinder to chip off 1/4 to 1/2 inch ($300 for one day rental!).

It is going to make stone surface smooth but I have to do it in a hope to bring colors back; will keep you guys posted

Thanks for giving us the update. I've been wondering how all of this was turning out for you. Sorry to hear about the effects of the muratic acid. I hope it was limited to a small area.

We burned some color out of a stone floor once with acid and found that linseed oil brought it back. I hope that helps some. Keep heart, you are trying hard