HOW TO RENOVATE CRAZYPAVING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 744, 17 August 1929, Page 24

HOW TO RENOVATE CRAZYPAVING

Discoloured crazy-paving may be j bleached with very little trouble. 1 Make a strong alkali by boiling half a ! pound of caustic soda in a bucketful of water, and having lightly scraped the paving, apply the solution with a mop. As the colour lightens, wash with soap and water. Now take a piece of unslaked lime about the size of an egg, dissolve it in a quart of milk, and wash the paving with this until the bleaching has proceeded far enough. If the paving is wearing badly on account of the soft, spongy nature of the stone, cleanse the worn part with hot water and a good hard soap and let it dry thoroughly. Obtain from the. chemist an ounce of sulphate of alumina, dissolve this in a pint of water, and apply the liquid with a swab of woollen cloth. When dry give the surface a coat of potash waterglass. W hen using these solutions, see that they saturate the stone ' for a depth of about half an inch. The chemicals unite to form a hard silicate in the pores of the stone, and give it a flint-like wearing surface. Much trouble can be saved with crazy-paving by waterproofing it. “o 1 ?! - the commercial waterglass which is soluable in sodium silicate. Dilute the waterglass with four parts of soft water, and apply with a flat brush until the surface is thoroughly ■n et. Leave for 24 hours, and apply a ! second coating’. If it is desired to stan crazy-pav- 1 mg a different colour, the waterglass ■ may be tinted with almost any mineral pigment before being applied. Thus the path may be coloured and waterproofed at one operation.