Painted gravel - a value for the design of landscapes
To produce colored gravel sandy quarries began relatively recently, having purchased the appropriate technology of staining the stone. The process assumes the use of a wide range of colors that are exceptionally resistant to weathering.
The dyes used do not have any influence on the growth of grass and plants, are not toxic and do not react with the soil. And this step was truly revolutionary in increasing the volume of sales of crushed stone already as a new decorative building material. Landscape designers have received a powerful tool for creating interesting compositions, colored rubble is used to decorate alpine slides, colored footpaths and flower beds.
Large, well-known heraldic signs, appeals and slogans "painted" with decorative material, show truly unlimited possibilities of design fantasy and encourage to search for new ways of using artistic building material.
Colored ballast - not every color is artificial
It is impossible not to mention the beneficial effect that rubble has on the soil. Covering the surface with a solid flooring, it protects it from weathering and drying, prevents the development of weeds. Coverage from decorative gravel is convenient for its mobility - it can be moved to another place at any time, as the laying of rubble does not require any qualification. In addition, it can, if necessary, be used for purely construction purposes.
Before painting crushed stone, it is divided into special fractions in special construction devices, from which 4.3-6.4 mm is selected for coloring. But one should not think that the decorative variety necessarily undergoes coloring. White crushed stone is nothing more than a marble crumb of natural white color.
In contrast to the dyed material has several fractions, the largest of which is used to fill the tracks, and the small one is used to decorate flower beds and flower beds. There is also a black rubble, but it is not a decorative material. This substance is produced with the use of liquid tar and bitumen from the most common gravel and is used in the construction of roads of various categories.
Decorative crushed stone - do it yourself
Speaking about colored gravel, it should be noted that making decorative rubble with their own hands is not at all difficult, and it will cost much less than buying it in retail trade. Of course, first you need to buy crushed stone, which then should be cleaned of debris and small particles.
The most convenient way to do this is to use a device called a "screen", in which sieving is carried out automatically. Considering the large volumes of crushed stone, it is best to load the load into the "crash" with a forklift truck. However, it is possible to do this with a simple construction shovel.
If there is no "crash", the screening of the rubble will have to be done manually using a special tray made of a grid with small cells.
For the painting of rubble, a concrete mixer is needed, into which sorted crushed stone and paint are loaded. The amount of paint in the concrete mixer should be 20-30% of the volume of crushed stone. With a continuous cycle of the concrete mixer, the painting process takes about an hour, resulting in a decorative colored gravel that needs drying.
For this purpose, the contents of the concrete mixer are poured into a specially made mesh box, below which is a container for collecting the draining paint. The collected paint can be reused, and the rubble itself is left in the box until it dries completely.