There are many advantages of doing the pebble wash i.e. it is natural material, thus soothing to your eyes. It will not fade and no need to apply paint forever. It is aesthetically beautiful and good for edging or contrast for flooring pattern.
Below are the steps that are helpful for doing yourself the pebble wash.
Step No 1: Identify Element To Be Applied With Pebble Wash
Measure the surface area to determine the amount of pebble required for the works. Usually a bag of 25 kg pebbles can cover ten square square feet . If you are skill enough, then you can apply thinner pebble wash and you can cover more than one square meter area with a bag of pebbles. Apply cement rich rendering to the surface to the required shape.
Step No 2: Preparation Of Pebble Wash Mix
Use only cement and pebble to make thick paste using the equal ratio of cement and pebble. Let the cement absorb water and become very sticky.
Step No 3: Apply Cement And Pebble Mixture All Over The Element
Install pebble wash mix whilst the rendering still look ‘ wet’ but hard enough to work on. Now perform the compacting and smoothing the mixture.
Step No 4: Washing Cement On Top Of Pebble
Use shoe brush and water for washing the cement from the surface of pebble. Brush gently at least after one hour of application. after one day or more, use diluted sulphuric acid and roller to wash left over cement on top of pebble. Use water for rinsing of acid residue from pebble.
Step No 5: Apply Stone Sealant
Finally apply the available or approved stone sealant to make final finishing to the pebble surface.
There are people who are doing the installation of pebble using other adhesive instead of cement. We can also use clear type of bitumen and the method of installation is the same as the installation of normal tarmac.
Pebbles and clear bitumen mix can be installed on top of binder course. Compaction of pebble/bitumen mix is done using rollers and stamping plate.
