Pigment for concrete-anyone used it?

[mart]

Has anyone used concrete colouring/pigment when making concrete? I obtained a small sample of pigment, as it’s called, to experiment with. I thought I may need to make a few blocks if I don’t have enough stones for the wall job that I am contemplating.

The pigment sample in the photo weighs just 100g, and is enough apparently for 10kg of cement (the ratio of pigment to cement for this particular colour is 1% pigment, and up to 3% for some of the other colours on the chart).

On a concrete mix of 321 where 1 portion is the cement, it is a tiny ratio of pigment. I have clarified it with the manufacturer to be sure, and they have confirmed that it is indeed 1 to 100 of the cement quantity not the quantity of concrete. I’m amazed, and it will be interesting to see how a test batch turns out in respect of the actual colour, which in this case is “buff stone”

Anyone else played around with this sort of thing?

 

[shenion]

I used some red color in the mortar when I did a brick retaining wall. I had a 60lb bag of pre-miixed mortar that had gone bad (would not set.)

Just a cup of the dyed mortar in a half bad of regular mortar gave me the color I wanted. It does not take much.

 

[brightspark]

yea u can get big bags of it for coloring concrete print drives then seal them with resin coating ot u can buy cementone mortar colouring from wickes or any builders merchants

 

[Didd1]

Is this the stuff that colours the full batch of concrete or is it the same powdered colouring they use for like printed concrete where you lay the concrete then sprinkle the pigment on sparingly and float it in which only colours the top 15 or 20mm?

 

[mart]

Is this the stuff that colours the full batch of concrete or is it the same powdered colouring they use for like printed concrete where you lay the concrete then sprinkle the pigment on sparingly and float it in which only colours the top 15 or 20mm?

It was supplied to be used in a wet mix. I doubt whether it can also be used in the way you describe-I feel sure that will be a different product.

 

[mart]

yea u can get big bags of it for coloring concrete print drives then seal them with resin coating ot u can buy cementone mortar colouring from wickes or any builders merchants

The place I got the sample from charge just over £78 with the vat for a 20kg bag. Is that about the going rate from builder`s merchants?

 

[cumbriasteve]

Used it quite a few years ago and it worked well, that is until I wanted a 2nd batch..was really difficult to repeat the colour depth with accuracy, took me 3 attempts to get close enough to be useable.

 

[ford34/2]

Pigment

Because of the cost of the pigment, we never mixed it in as a full batch of Concrete or Mortar mix. whatever the project and where ever possible, the "face" was laid up in a coloured mix, or the wet mortar in the brick layers was raked back out and then repointed using a coloured mix. quantities need measuring in a religious and perfect repitition to guarantee colour consistency. We also tried different coloured sands- but forget it, with Portland cement they all come out grey.

Stan

 

[pedrobedro]

I used to use some for cement called Febtone available in red, yellow or grey, well it was then I don't know now.

 

[lexi]

They were usually made from coloured Ochres. Yellow, Red and Lamp Black.
Ciba Geighy ground lots of these pigments for colouring ........everything. It then went into all the different manufacturers boxes..........it aint changed really.

Experiment with gauged batches. They don't aways turn out the colour they say.

 

[tlovatt]

I have used the pigments a few times, a few things to keep in mind:

1) if you use grey cement this can effect the final colour for the lighter shades
2) you need to measure all of the batch mixes to keep the colour the same, but a cheap set of bathroom scales for the sand and cement then you need some accurate scales for the pigment
3) the colour changes over time, they tend to be more vibrant at first (so do not worry if it looks garish for the first few months)
4) the colour of the sand also has an impact, so buy all of you sand in one batch, if there is any variation mix it together first.
5) If you add too much pigment it weakens the concrete

Did mine a few years ago and no problems to date, for the price I used it in all of the concrete.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Our house has slate grey/blue bricks so we used a black pigment in the mortar which after 15 years has faded completely so me now have almost white mortar!

 

[tlovatt]

It depends upon the quality of the pigment, modern high quality pigments will generally last for 50 years+ but some of the cheap ones will fade almost completely away over time. what should be avoided is getting the color by varying the amount of pigment i.e. making a light green by using a little of a dark green pigment as opposed to the correct amount of a light green pigment. People do the same thing to get Greys using black pigment and they will fade much more and at a higher rate than if a grey pigment was used in the first place