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RE: Removing fine stone pebblecrete

Posted 1268 days ago

I used to make a living doing exactly what you ask. Find 2 or 3 reputable tradesmen in the concreting area who "spray decorative stencils", see yellow pages. If they suggest an high pressure water blast at around 2500-3000psi to remove any loose pebbles and find more week spots your on the right track. Then they should cut and fill large cracks with a variety of available products and trowel a layer of they're base spray product over everything. That's ground down with a concrete grinder and then cleaned of dust. Next they spray a light dust coat over everything to give all areas a uniform appearance. Its then up to you to choose appropriate stencil patterns and colour combinations to suit your house/yard which is then sprayed over the area with a coat or two of "high solids" lacquer to protect it from oxidising. Important points: cheap will be cheap, personally view previous work done by company to check actual colours and stencils, look closely at stencil patterns for allignment and continuity, and uniformity of spray pattern - its a lot like painting - the more preparation and attention to detail the better finish. Remember that you have to live with the results so put the effort in, the results can be astonishing! A good "trady" should have photo album of previous masterpieces to tantalise you. Maintenance is a good pressure clean (DIY)and a coat of lacquer every few years. One other thing (yeah sure) is that I've never found a permanent cure for cracked concrete so if an area is really bad it may be prudent to cut it out and replace it, as it will eventually move again and crack whatever you cover it with. Fortunately with this system, repairs are simply a repeat of some of the above, as i said "it's like painting" so buy an extra bag of the cement based spray product with the colour additive for security against future colour/product changes. Finally, if you have no luck, make contact again and I'll see what I can do around "indy'time, cheers.

RE: Removing fine stone pebblecrete

Posted 1267 days ago

Hi there mickv3!!!! Thankyou sooooo much for all your help. So appreciative of all the time you took to give us so much information. I'll keep you posted. Kind regards Crikey.

RE: Removing fine stone pebblecrete

Posted 1116 days ago

Hi there mickv3- ahhh - an update to thankyou and advise you and anyone else out there who is unfortunate enough to have this product.We ended up contracting a wonderful chap who had a machine that "ate it all up" - can supply name if anyone needs -have to find it in our filing. Cost us more to pull up than lay - $3,600.oo. They did an excellent job and all crud removed. We have just finished having 247 s/ms of beautiful sandstone layed. Looks stunning - now need to rob a bank to pay for stone and labour. Thakyou so much for your offer of help. Hope you enjoyed the Indy on our beautiful Coast. 6 months into our second reno and still going - marriage is still intact- don't know how with all the dust, dirt, stress, noise, etc!!!! Happy 2009 to all - and peace.

RE: Removing fine stone pebblecrete

Posted 1059 days ago

Hi Mickv3

Hoping you can help me out too.

I had a very drab stamped (not stencilled) concrete driveway. Made the mistake of painting it with Tex a crete colour sealant system - looked wonderful a beautiful rich terracotta colour for 18 months but now it is peeling off and looks awful . I fear that I will have to get a hi pressure water jet to remove the paint - I think it is false advertising to sell such products that do not last. I believe that those roof respraying companies also do not work and that after a couple of years the rooves peel as well.

Very annoying and such a waste of time and money, Deb K