visionset wrote:

"Mathew Newton" wrote in message
ups.com...

I've got a few photos which show some of the steps in general if
they're of any interest... indeed given the pointing took me 7 hours I
want as many people to see the final result as possible!


Oh go on then, I'm about to lay some black limestone for a hearth.
I was going to just mix some ash in to a standard mortar mix.
I'll try it first.
Bung it on tinypic.com or wherever.

Sorry for the delay - been waiting for it to stop raining so I can take
some 'real' pictures - these slabs change colour significantly when wet
(get much darker), and indeed the mortar joints also do except they
seem to take longer to dry out. Anyway, gave up waiting for it to dry
out however the following should give some idea what it's like:

http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/house/patio/

The smaller slabs seem to take the longest to dry out and so whilst
they, and a number of the other ones, may look like they've been
stained (particularly at the edges) they're actually not.

Have still got a bit more to do, including rebuilding the steps (to
cover the full width of the french doors) along with some gravel infill
between the patio and decking (this provides drainage to a nearby
drain) but as far as I'm concerned the hardest bits are done!

Mathew