What paint for crushed stone? Polymer paints for crushed stone

The need to paint crushed gravel and crushed stone in bright and Beautiful colors occurs when designing areas around reservoirs, forming original flower beds and embankments and sales of other landscape projects. The business of its production has high profitability, with a small amount of dye for crushed stone (within 1 kg per 100) and little effort, the output is a high-quality and highly decorative material of any the desired shade. The technology is considered simple and accessible to perform at home; the volume of products produced is limited only by the size of the concrete mixer bowl.

For these purposes, compositions that are resistant to moisture, ultraviolet radiation and mechanical abrasion are required, ideally changing shade when dissolved with water or mixed with other dyes. There are no special restrictions; sprayed aerosols, facade and alkyd enamels, cement with dry additives and water-borne PVA mixed with pigment can be used. But optimal results are achieved when purchasing polymer paints based on acrylic resins, silicates and styrenes. Having a light resistance of at least 6-7 units and high adhesion to minimal surfaces, they do not fade, wash out or wear off for several years. Special varnishes help to consolidate the effect, but under normal conditions they are not necessary.

Among the time-tested options are Decoril based on high-strength organic dyes, organosilicate composition OS-12-03, acrylic VD-AK-191 and universal enamel PF-115. All of them have a rich and varied range of colors and adhere well to the edges of crushed stone. When choosing a specific brand, future operating conditions are taken into account. When planning to fill flowerbeds and fences in nets, high-quality façade enamel is sufficient; to obtain a filler suitable for decorating ponds and aquariums, you need to buy a polymer variety based on acrylics.

The given grades are relevant when processing individual portions of gravel using a volumetric method - by mixing in the bowl of a concrete mixer or a clean container. When planning to work with aerosols, it is recommended to purchase car spray cans or similar sprays with high adhesion. To reduce their consumption, future decorative crushed stone should first be sprayed or completely soaked in a container with roughness-reducing compounds. For these purposes, you can buy ordinary building primers for outdoor use.

Dyeing technology

The process includes several simple steps: sorting, cleaning and drying the material → preparing working tools and paintwork materials (most are sold ready-made or easily diluted with water, but some cheap brands and independent mixtures need pre-soaking and thorough stirring) → loading into a bowl or hopper and directly painting → decanting the remaining liquid (if any), drying and packaging colored crushed stone. Each of the steps requires control, otherwise the grains will not be covered with a uniform film.

At the preparation stage, the stone is cleaned of large debris and, if necessary, sifted through a screen to obtain the desired faction, washed with water and dried. Maximum decorative effect is achieved by applying polymer paint to a medium grain size of 10 mm. It is not recommended to ignore the need for pre-treatment; in the presence of large debris, individual particles stick together and look unsightly, and the coating peels off faster. Rough, unwashed varieties may also change to a darker color later.

The easiest way to clean is directly on a sieve or mesh using a hose; water under pressure will wash the crushed stone from all sides and drain without delay. When using polymer paint, the fractions are completely dried. At this stage, the crushed grain is laid out in a uniform layer on a grid or mesh and left outside or in a room with good ventilation until the moisture is completely removed. During preparation, it is recommended to divide the material in advance into separate portions of 2/3 of the volume of the mixer bowl. The proportion of acrylic paintwork materials is calculated based on the proportions specified in the instructions or from the ratio 20/80 or 70/30.

After this, it is enough to pour the fractions into the bowl, fill it with color and start the mixing mode for an average of 40 minutes. The operating principle of the mixer (forced or gravity) does not play a special role, but during processing the equipment is protected from overload and overheating. Some types dry faster - in 15-20 minutes, the exact interval is determined experimentally.

The process is considered complete after the particles are completely covered with the emulsion and a strong and durable film is formed on them. There should be no unpainted edges or surfaces left. The entire stage takes no more than 1 hour.

If the correct proportions are observed, the output is almost dry colored crushed stone. To get rid of residues, the material is unloaded onto a sieve or mesh and held over the pallet for some time. After this, the fractions are left until final drying. outdoors. Using modern species paint and distribution thin layer this process takes a few hours, no more. Completely dry products are poured into boxes or packaged for sale. Store in bulk long time no, it's not possible.

2 Box: I apologize for the harsh tone.
And so, let's go. Want to know? Please, but only (quote: BOX wrote: “Even if I had known, I would hardly have posted it here for free.”) omitting some details.
I live and work in the Republic of Belarus, Minsk. The production was initially located 25 km from the city of Baranovichi. For work, the following were purchased: 1. Concrete mixer for 150 euros (hereinafter: ue), 2. A car for 100 euros, VAZ 2101 brand, 3. A farm near the bruise for 200 euros. All together it cost 450 euros (the phone was more expensive). Then, at a nearby asphalt plant, I agreed with the foreman to purchase 20 tons. flaky crushed stone, fr. 5-10 with deferred payment in cash (later switched to cubic fr. 4-6.3 - look for it - you’ll find it, used in Typhoons for patching or for improved coverage of the proposed DRSU-136).
Now about setting up the mini-production itself (that is, with minimal costs, as I started at one time).
Water is necessary like air, because... no matter how clean the crushed stone is, it is always dusty, which increases paint consumption and reduces adhesion and greatly changes the color of the coating to dark. A fine mesh with a 3x3 mm mesh was purchased, placed in a container, which in turn was lowered into a container of water and the crushed stone was washed out of debris by shaking and rocking. Not fast, but you can wash a ton in 2 hours. The container must be periodically cleaned of sediment. Next, the crushed stone was poured into a container with a mesh bottom (the mesh has several layers and is reinforced from below, since crushed stone has a large mass even in small volumes) with a supply of hot air from below, which accelerated the drying process, fortunately a thermal heating room was discovered in the garage quite by accident gas gun and a balloon. After drying, the crushed stone needs to cool down, otherwise you can actually get poisoned by toxins when painting!!! (this happened to me, I barely came to my senses). Next, the cooled dry crushed stone was poured into a concrete mixer with a measuring container (bucket), where a dye was added (pigments mixed with organic solvents, etc. what kind of dye - sorry, I won’t say - see the quote, too much time and money was spent on searching for a suitable, weather-resistant, abrasion-resistant and sudden temperature changes, moisture-resistant, glossy dye). Crushed stone was painted at the rate of 125 kg. crushed stone for 2 kg. dye in two batches. After which, on initial stage, a special composition was added to speed up drying, which increased the cost of a unit of production and “extinguished” the gloss. But after, I developed new technology, which simplified and accelerated the entire process of drying and painting, and eliminated unnecessary additives, improved the adhesion and shine of the painted stone.
After painting, the crushed stone was poured onto a flat surface (in my case, panels from an industrial refrigerator) and dried naturally. Afterwards, a conveyor for washing dishes (for a school) was purchased, which was converted into a conveyor thermal oven (with an exhaust hood - this is a must) where it passed crushed stone, pouring it after drying into a container where it cooled and dried.. Subsequently, the new technology made it possible to abandon this conveyor oven.
After drying, which is: in the first case, about 2-4 hours (natural drying, painted crushed stone is scattered in a layer of 5 cm), in the second and third cases, 20-30 minutes. the crushed stone was packaged in bags purchased at the hardware store “for pickling cucumbers” and sewn up with a stapler. Subsequently I found the manufacturer of those. packages and purchased a sealer.
All costs at the initial stage were recouped from the first batch of 2 tons.
If there are any technical I will be happy to answer your questions. [email protected]
Regards, Alexey

Decorative colored crushed stone is a relatively new product on the construction market. However, in Europe it has been used for a long time to decorate flower beds, lawns, and also in landscape design.

Decorative crushed stone is produced by crushing waste generated during the production of facing slabs, as well as waste generated during the extraction of blocks and architectural and construction products from solid rocks.

Advantages of decorative crushed stone

  1. It is an economical building material.
  2. Prevents the growth of weeds.
  3. Sprinkling flower beds and beds with it retains moisture.
  4. Easily removed from the soil.
  5. Protects the soil from weathering.
  6. Safe.
  7. Has a long service life.
  8. Eco-friendly.
  9. Has a wide range of colors.

Scope of application of decorative crushed stone

  • Framing monuments.
  • Landscape design.
  • Aquarium design.
  • Creating banks and bottoms of streams and ponds.
  • Decoration of houses.
  • Creation of inscriptions on lawns and ground.
  • Decor garden paths etc.

Manufacturing technology of decorative crushed stone

The production of this building material must be carried out exclusively using high-quality components - this will provide it with rich and bright colors, as well as long term storage So, decorative crushed granite stone is taken as the basis for production.

How to make decorative crushed stone

The process of creating decorative crushed stone is practically no different from the process of producing its counterpart - construction crushed stone, except that after the main operations, the first one is painted.

Thus, in order for the crushed stone to acquire long-lasting color, modern equipment is used.

Before you start painting the material, it is divided into fractions in special devices, from which the appropriate sizes of 4.3-6.4 mm are selected. However, one should not think that such a variety is necessarily subject to coloring, since white crushed stone is nothing more than marble chips natural color.

The process of creating decorative colored crushed stone includes a number of stages:

1. Initially, the crushed stone itself is purchased.

2. Fine particles and debris are then sorted out to ensure that only suitable and selected material remains. For this they use special device, called "rumble". With its help, crushed stone is sifted automatically, which is pre-loaded there with a shovel.

3. If such equipment is not available to you, you can use a large mesh with small holes. It must be stretched and placed at an angle, after which you need to pour building material there and begin to carefully sift through it. When using this technology, all operations are carried out manually.

4. Next stage involves painting. For this, it is recommended to use crushed stone with a fraction of 10 mm or more. Thus, the previously sifted material is placed in special device, which can be used as a conventional concrete mixer.

5. Then the color is poured into the equipment. To color the stone, it is advisable to take acrylic paint, with a volume of at least 20-30% of the volume of crushed stone.

7. Upon completion of the work, the crushed stone is moved to the receiving hopper, which is a box with a mesh. The latter should be pulled a few centimeters higher from the bottom metal device. The cells in the grid must correspond to 10 mm. Such equipment will reduce paint consumption, since excess acrylic will flow through it to the bottom of the box, from where it can then be reused.

8. Finished product It is necessary to dry thoroughly, leaving it in the open air.

Laying decorative crushed stone

Laying colored decorative crushed stone does not require much skill. It's quite simple:

  • Initially prepare the terrain (remove debris, weeds and rhizomes);
  • then the soil is insulated using roofing felt, geotextile or polyethylene film. In addition, it is fashionable to fill in the required quadrature concrete screed up to 5 cm thickness;
  • then drainage is created in the lowest place of the relief;
  • a barrier is installed along the perimeter;
  • at the end, crushed stone is lined, which is evenly distributed throughout the entire area.
  • if you used roofing felt or plastic film, then under the layer of crushed stone it is necessary to pour sand with a thickness of 3-5 cm. It is first recommended to level it around the perimeter, compact it and water it with water for shrinkage;
  • if you are doing design garden plot, then designers recommend using decorative colored crushed stone of a fraction of 4-10 mm;
  • As a border, you can use wild stone, ordinary sidewalk curbs, as well as special plastic or metal strips.

Thus, modern polymer paints for decorative crushed stone are characterized by increased resistance to external and mechanical influences, which allows them to maintain an attractive appearance for a long time. appearance designed landscape. Wherein this building material can withstand heavy loads - you can safely walk and dance on it.

The emergence of a new type of bulk powder for the domestic market building material produced something similar to a revolution, in particular in landscape design, because for many years the product of crushing different breeds stone, called crushed stone, was used mainly in the manufacture of reinforced concrete structures, concrete mixtures, pillows under highways and so on. Thanks to production technology, colored crushed stone has also gained recognition as a decorative raw material.

Fine stone is obtained by crushing granite and marble rocks and painted in various colors. The production of painted crushed stone involves the use of polymer and acrylic waterproof dyes. The parameters of this raw material are as follows:

NameStrength grade, (M)Volumetric weight, (t/m3)Fraction, (mm)Frost resistance, (F)Abrasion rate, (g/cm2)Aeff*, (Bq/kg)
Crushed granite1200–1400 1,6 5–30 300 0,20 up to 370
Marble chips600–800 1,38 5–10 50 0,20 up to 370

*Aeff – specific activity of radionuclides, an indicator of the environmental safety of raw materials.

The advantages are:

  • high strength;
  • durability, which significantly reduces the cost of maintaining and maintaining park areas;
  • resistance to temperature changes;
  • environmental safety, lack of toxic emissions;
  • the coating can be easily removed and/or transferred to another area.

The scope of use of multi-colored stone is extremely wide:

  • Landscape design, arrangement and improvement of personal and summer cottages. For example, decorative colored marble crushed stone is used to decorate flower beds and flower beds.
  • IN road construction for the design of pedestrian paths.
  • Pet stores and pet owners use it as a filler to keep their pets in aquariums and terrariums.
  • In the field of funeral services, painted crushed stone is used in the cemetery for graves and backfilling paths in areas.

How to paint yourself

Making colored crushed stone with your own hands is quite simple. In addition to the raw materials, you will need:

  • concrete mixer;
  • metal grid;
  • a container for painted stone, which is a large box with a fine mesh stretched over the top;
  • shovel;
  • polymer or acrylic waterproof paints for exterior use.

The manufacturing process consists of the following stages:

1. Preparation. Since factory raw materials (crushed stone) may contain grains different sizes, it is necessary to sift it in order to select a homogeneous fraction for staining. To do this, a metal mesh is installed at an angle of 60º to the surface of the earth and crushed stone is thrown onto it with a shovel. Large rocks roll down the mesh, and small rocks accumulate under the sieve.

2. Painting. The sifted material is loaded into a concrete mixer, then paint is poured in an amount of at least 30% of the volume of the stone, otherwise the coating of the raw material will be uneven. The dyeing process takes about 15 minutes on average.

3. Drying. The treated stone is laid out on a box with a mesh and kept on it until excess paint drains from it, and then poured onto a prepared piece of polyethylene for final drying. This process takes from 1 to 3 hours, depending on the air temperature, but it can be sped up by using a gas burner.

To realize design ideas when decorating the interior of a garden plot, products with unlimited color scheme. Stone finishing makes the landscape expressive, emphasizing its features. The use of painted crushed stone allows you to create unusual and original decoration.

Crushed stone is an inorganic bulk material of various grain sizes, obtained from gravel, granite, limestone, as well as waste from the construction and metallurgical industries. Its characteristics depend on the raw materials.

1. The frost resistance indicator, as well as strength characteristics, may be low. Crushed stone with medium or weak parameters is quite suitable for painting.

2. There are several forms of grains obtained by crushing stone:

  • regular;
  • cuboid;
  • improved.

Gravel is formed naturally and has a smooth, rounded surface.

3. The natural range of shades is:

  • white-gray;
  • beige-pink;
  • brown-red.

Other color options are extremely rare in nature.

4. In landscape design, the most popular colors are blue, green, red and other tones. You can get them only by painting the crushed stone yourself in a concrete mixer or by hand. For this, dyes are taken that:

  • resistant to precipitation;
  • do not interact with soils;
  • do not affect plants;
  • safe for people.
Properties Usage
Large palette of shades, high aesthetic qualities. You can give a neat look to a site with any type of soil. A landscape of stones suits any style.
Environmental Safety. Crushed stone for landscape design has an indicator of radioactivity< 370 Бк/кг, что позволяет применять его при декорировании открытых площадок, садовых дорожек, для благоустройства мест детских игр.
Long period of operation. High resistance to temperature changes. Retains color intensity under the influence of moisture and UV rays for up to 7 years.
Prevents soil from drying out and weeds forming. Sprinkling for decoration promotes the growth of plantings located on them.
Simplicity and versatility. Does not require special care; can ensure the aesthetics of the territory at any time of the year; It’s easy to make colored crushed stone with your own hands; the backfill is easily restored and removed; if the decorative effect is reduced, it can be used in drainage cushions.
Harmonizes both with different plants, and with any materials. Combines with concrete, metal, glass, wood. Looks organic among trees, flowers, moss.

In most cases, gravel or granite backfill is used for decoration. Limestone or secondary types are used much less frequently due to their technical qualities.

Work technology

With the advent of painted crushed stone, the task of improving the space around the house became easier. Offered by manufacturers ready material has a high cost. Doing the work yourself is much cheaper.

There are 2 methods of painting at home: mechanical and manual. The choice depends on the volume of processing required.

  • For production, it is better to take cube-shaped gravel with a fraction of up to 10 mm.
  • To ensure uniform coloring, the products are divided into fractions. For sorting, a grid or sieve with a certain mesh size or a “screen” is used.
  • Depending on the applied composition color coating can be either matte or glossy.
  • The main requirement is adhesion. It can be good not only natural stone, but also for crushed stone obtained from recycled materials.
  • Paint consumption is small. The proportional ratio for mechanical application is 1 liter per 100 kg of gravel.

Method Equipment Technology Nuances
Mechanical Concrete mixer; vibrating sieve for separating crushed stone into fractions (“screen”); shovels for loading and unloading stones; pallet; place to dry the finished product. The washed crushed stone is poured into a clean concrete mixer. A special dye of the required saturation is added. Depending on the load, coloring lasts from 20 minutes to 1 hour. Then the gravel is poured out in an even layer to dry. For high-quality coloring, you need to fill 1/2 - 2/3 of the container volume. If the device is completely filled, the color will not be uniform.

The dye is added in a ratio of 3:7 in relation to the total loading volume.

Mixing in a concrete mixer continues until the grains are covered with a uniform film.

When drying, a tray must be placed under the sieve to collect excess.

Manual Storage tank; sieve; pallet; shovel. Option 1. The stone is poured into a container with paint, thoroughly kneaded, placed on a sieve, and dried.

Option 2. A large sieve with a reservoir is built on the frame; crushed stone is dipped in the composition and laid out to dry.

Option 3. The gravel is painted by spraying an aerosol and then dried.

There is a possibility of uneven or weak coloring.

The bottom will have a mesh pattern, which requires constant shaking and turning during drying to avoid.

Before you start working, the gravel needs to be washed, dried, and slightly heated with a burner. This will improve adhesion and allow you to create the desired shade; in addition, unwashed stone will darken.