Cleaning old stone

[BlackAlys]

Has anyone ever hired soneone to clean/sanblast a house made from stone?

The house I'm renovating is old blue pennant stone - approx 160 years old and, after all these years, looks a greeny brown instead of a pennant blue/grey.

I need to decide window colours asap but without cleaning it, it's difficult to know.

Does anyone have any advice?

Hopeful bump

The people who took the paint off our brickwork mostly do stone. I'd do a local search and talk to a few firms. If you've got stone, look for people who do heritage projects locally who know about the specific stone you have and can show you examples-round here it's pretty much only sandstone / millstone grit, for example.

I’ve had it done. What do you need to know? It’s very very messy. Warn your neighbours.

Thankfully, it's on its own land so no close neighbours to worry about.

The pennant stone is quite Brian with age and I want an idea of what it will look like when sandblasted, also cost and timescale.

Brian?! BROWN! 😂

I haven't done it myself, but from what I've seen, it's very messy but worth doing. Definitely something I'd want to get done early in a renovation.
If you want an idea of colour are there any areas you could uncover like bits protected by a wooden gate post or any walls inside that are getting knocked about?

Our builder actually cut into the stone in order to sort out the extension - it was such a pale blue/grey and in total contrast the the stoney browns that I've grown accustomed to in this area.

I suppose I'm trying to work out whether the sandblasted stone will also come up that clean and fresh - it was a huge difference!

@justabigdisco

I’ve had it done. What do you need to know? It’s very very messy. Warn your neighbours.

Definitely warn the neighbours. Our cleaners advised us to (though the mess really wasn't too bad, as it happens).