Painting old flag stones

[Twinkle19]

Has anyone painted over old flag stones. We desperately need our front updating as we have old yellow flagstones that where here when we moved in. Been quoted £4000 though so defo can’t afford that anytime soon. Thinking about painting them for now but wondering if they will end up looking worse. The paint is gonna cost £100 and we would do it ourselves but dont wanna waste my time if it doesnt last for long and starts looking rubbish fast. Has anyone else done this at all and got any advice. Could be a couple of years till we can afford to have it done properly.

Could be a couple of years till we can afford to have it done properly

Wait a couple of years and have it done properly?

It’s not a long time in the scheme of things, and it seems pointless paying out for temporary half hearted fix that could end up looking worse until you get it done properly.

Are the flagstones sound? What’s wrong with yellow? Are they bright yellow or sandstone? Difficult to know what you mean without a photo or at least a diagram .

It is flagstones on a path? Or a complete hardstanding that need redoing?

Painting flagstones is a short-term improvement; it won't last very long and you'll probably need to repaint it in a couple of years. Have you tried giving them a good scrub with a pressure washer? Not too fiercely though, so you don't compromise the surface.

Not flag stones, as such, but I'm in the process of planning to renovate my very old/tired patio which is constructed of those red and yellow-is paving slabs.

I've watched a LOT of You Tube videos and the prep and cleaning of the slabs is key. I'm also researching the best type of paint, and have found some which is the same kind of stuff used to paint lighthouses - so it should be pretty weatherproof! We live by the coast and experience quite extreme weather sometimes, coupled with the salt air.

I'll post the link for the website where I found the paint later, just dashing out now.

We were quoted £6,000 for a new patio - including removal of all the old slabs, a new sub-base, soakaway etc and, right now, that's just a bit too much for us to stretch to.

This is them obviously they need jet washing but doesn’t make them look any better. I hate them.

@Twinkle19

This is them obviously they need jet washing but doesn’t make them look any better. I hate them.

OP, your slabs are just like mine.

This is the paint I think I'll probably use. I'm going to do a pale grey background, with a simple stencilled design over the top in white:
www.crownpaintsprofessional.com/help-and-advice/case-studies/happisburgh-lighthouse/

Thanks so much will have a look.

What area is it? £4,000 seems at lot.

If you do decide to paint the existing paving I think you will need to jet wash them first, (and then wear sun glasses as they could be quite garish!)

Its just on our front. Its not even a big space. Think the expensive bit is the labour for it digging it out and levelling it off etc. Yeh there are very yellow when clean lol. Don’t remember these ever being in fashion.

Don't paint them. We painted ours a couple of years ago, did all the prep, made sure they were clean and ready to paint, used the correct outdoor concrete paint, used a sealer over the top - it looked good for about three months then bits started to chip/flake and we had to keep going over it. When the weather got cold and wet, it was flaking and bubbling despite having the sealer over the top which should have prevented that happening.

In the end we had to power wash all of it off and it took literally days to get it off!!

Oh no what a nightmare. Thats what I was worried about cos painting them isn't cheap either. Thanks so much for telling me this. Saved me a lot of money and time. Will just put up with them till we can afford to redo them in a few years. Hope yours are all sorted now.

Scrub them really clean and get an outdoor rug?

Take them out altogether and put some grass seed down?

Don't bother painting. Either pressure clean or remove

Thanks for the advice everyone. So glad I asked on here. Will try and get rid of the black mold and jet wash. Then put up with them till we can afford to re do it.

Try a scrubbing brush and biological washing powder

Really would never of thought to try that.

I suggest removing the pink ones and putting grey gravel in those squares after jet cleaning the yellowish ones.

Agree with Jjjayfee, remove whatever colour you have least of, or hate most, and replace with pea gravel, or grow thyme or similar in the square gap.
Possibly the biggest issue is that the yellow and pink don't look well together.

You could try a concrete stain (which would penetrate the slabs, rather than creating a coating that could flake or chip off).

Something like this.

Just bear in mind that the usual colour mixing rules would apply... so the red/yellow slabs would still contrast slightly (or a lot, depending on the colour you choose to stain them).