If you are planning to fill a path in the garden with crushed stone or make a mound in the yard, you have a choice - to use gray nondescript crushed stone or decorative crushed stone painted in all the colors of the rainbow. You don’t need to spend much – anyone can make colored crushed stone with their own hands.

DIY decorative crushed stone - a practical novelty

Decorative crushed stone recently appeared on construction market– manufacturers of this building material are just beginning to master the technology of painting it in industrial scale. The technology involves the use of resistant external factors paints that are non-toxic and harmless to soil and plants. The production of colored crushed stone promotes the use of this material in landscape design- this includes colored garden paths, rainbow flower beds and flower beds, creating all kinds of inscriptions on the ground, adding bedding around the walls of houses and cottages, framing monuments and creating a bright bottom and bank in artificial streams and ponds, designing children's playgrounds and much more.

In addition to external beauty, it is also practical, and in this aspect of the issue, the Europeans, who were the first to master the coloring of crushed stone, certainly know a lot - according to their calculations, the use of such an element in the future significantly reduces maintenance costs beautiful view in parks, around monuments and in flower beds. Indeed, backfilling with colored crushed stone is exclusively durable way solutions to various problems. Crushed stone inhibits the growth of weeds, prevents the soil from weathering, allows moisture to pass freely and promotes its retention in the soil, and if necessary, it can be collected and used elsewhere or even used for construction purposes.

You can either purchase a ready-made decorative material, and paint it yourself. When purchasing, be sure to ask what paints were used to give the corresponding color - polymer paints can retain their color for several decades. In addition, do not be shy to look into the bag - the material must be of the same fraction, evenly colored and without signs of premature peeling of paint.

Making colored crushed stone with your own hands - production technology

You can make colored crushed stone yourself - there is nothing secret or super complicated in the technology itself. For this you will need a concrete mixer, metal mesh, a container for painted crushed stone, a shovel and, of course, crushed stone and paint. Granite crushed stone is most often used - it paints better and, moreover, is quite cheap.

How to make colored crushed stone with your own hands - step by step diagram

Step 1: Preparing the Material

Manufacturers of crushed stone for construction work Of course, granite crushed stone is not specially prepared for painting, so in the general pile you may end up with stones of very different sizes. Manufacturers of colored crushed stone use special device called "rumble". With its help, bulk materials are sorted into small and large fractions using the screening method. It’s unlikely that you have a “rumble” lying around in your shed, but you probably have a metal mesh. Before you paint the crushed stone with your own hands, pull it at an angle of at least 60° and pour crushed stone with a shovel to the very top to ensure a larger scale of sifting. Larger pieces will roll down the mesh, while smaller pieces will fall to the ground underneath the mesh. For painting, it is best to use pebbles about 10 mm long - such crushed stone is most convenient for filling garden paths. Smaller ones will also be useful for decorating flower beds and flower beds, and you can always use large pieces for construction purposes.

Step 2: Painting the crushed stone

The sorted material must be poured into a concrete mixer. By the way, you can make a concrete mixer yourself if you have an unnecessary metal barrel. Paint of the color we need is poured over the crushed stone - you can use both polymer and acrylic paints. To achieve best color, the volume of paint must be at least one third of the volume of crushed stone loaded into the concrete mixer. Having started the unit, you can calmly rest for the next 40-60 minutes - this is exactly how much time is needed for uniform coloring.

Step 3: Drying the Stones

While your DIY decorative crushed stone is taking on a new color, you can prepare a receiving container if you haven't already. The container is a large box with a mesh stretched around its perimeter. If it is a metal mesh, then it can be stretched a short distance from the bottom of the box; if you are using a regular mesh, stretch it to the very top of the container. Thanks to this device, excess paint will flow freely to the bottom of the box, and the painted material will remain on the mesh.

Remove the crushed stone from the net and spread it on outdoors for drying, placing plastic film. The paint remaining in the box can be reused to paint a new batch.

How to paint crushed stone with your own hands - laying and creating patterns

You can also create bright garden paths or colorful flower beds yourself, without the help of specialists. To do this, you will need a shovel, a wheelbarrow, plastic film, borders, plastic or metal strips and ready-made decorative crushed stone.

How to paint crushed stone with your own hands - step-by-step diagram

Step 1: Prepare the place for installation

In the place where the material will be poured, it is necessary to remove about 10 cm of the top layer of soil. Pour the soil into a wheelbarrow - there will probably be a place in your garden where you can put it later.

Step 2: Place the borders

If you decide to make a regular garden path, all you need to do is add borders. They can be used as natural stone, or plastic and metal strips. The borders should sit securely on the surface, you can even dig them lightly into the soil.

Step 3: Prepare the base

After installing the borders, it is necessary to pour a layer of sand of at least 5 cm. Level it around the perimeter and pour water for better shrinkage. Let the sand dry a little and proceed to the next stage of preparing the base - lay insulating material over the sand. Manufacturers offer special synthetic materials with ready-made holes through which water flows. You can also use regular plastic film, in which you make a sufficient number of holes in advance for water drainage in case of precipitation. Another layer of sand is poured onto the polyethylene, this time smaller - 2-3 cm.

Step 4: Prepare the stencil

If you are planning to make a path or other surface multi-colored, for convenience, prepare in advance internal borders from strips of metal or plastic. Thanks to them, the crushed stone will not mix with each other, and you, in turn, will be able to form any geometric patterns. This step can be skipped if the material is the same color.

Step 5: Lay out the colored stones

The last, final step is to evenly pour our decorative crushed stone onto the prepared base. You can level the surface with a regular rake. If you are laying crushed stone on a lawn or in a flower bed, a small layer of 2 cm will be enough to pedestrian paths It is advisable to pour at least 4 cm of crushed stone.

Decorative colored stone chips are loose non-metallic materials, ideal for decorating flower beds and creating accents in the landscape and interior. For these purposes it is used as crushed natural stone both gravel and painted, the second type is easy to make yourself, the painting technology is more than simple. When choosing a material, not only its texture and color are taken into account, but also indicators such as fraction size, strength, frost resistance, and abrasion resistance.

The main starting materials include marble chips and granite crushed stone; they are inexpensive and have good adhesion with paint and do not delaminate during use. Waterproof acrylics and polymers are used as color pigments; after drying, crushed stone is highly resistant to abrasion, precipitation and temperature changes. Naturally colored varieties include marble, granite, jasper, serpentine, quartzite and many others.

To accounted workers and operational characteristics include:

• Fraction size.
• Flakiness – ideally within 15%.
• Compressive strength, MPa.
• Frost resistance, cycles.
• Specific gravity, kg/m3.
• Degree of abrasion, g/cm2.
• Specific activity of radionuclides - the standard and current value is checked, the presence of an appropriate certificate is mandatory.

Scope of application

Currently, this material is used in almost every landscape design project; the variety of textures and shades allows you to create unique compositions. Also, colored gravel and crushed stone are used for:

• Manufacturing paving slabs and small-piece decorative elements.
• Kneading textured plasters, internal and external surface cladding.
• Pouring mosaic floors.
• Arrangement garden paths, areas around monuments, sites.
• Mulching the soil: fine gravel protects plant roots well from drying out and prevents grass from sprouting.
• Design of streams and reservoirs: when wet, the color appears brighter, decorative effect intensifies significantly. For the same reason it is used to decorate aquariums.

The size of the fractions varies; the most popular are grades in the range of 5-10, 5-20, 20-40 mm. For gravel, the range is wider: the grain diameter varies from 5 to 70 mm. Fine-grained rounded fragments (gravel sand from 1 to 3 mm) are ideal for the manufacture of small-piece products, mulching and decoration of Japanese gardens (combined with large stones) and large areas.

Cost of colored decorative crushed stone

Depending on the type of product, there are two main groups: decorative chips painted with artificial pigment and crushed stone. In terms of brightness and uniformity of shades, the first variety wins, in durability and naturalness – the second. Colored painted crushed stone is sold packaged (2, 5, 20 kg). Crushed, washed and sorted gravel, jasper and coils are most often sold in bulk; they are recommended to be purchased if you need to decorate large areas.

It is difficult to deliver large volumes to flowerbeds or sites; wholesale is cheaper, but the cost of transportation services is negotiated separately. In addition to checking the basic characteristics, when purchasing a painted variety, attention is paid to its quality. For this purpose, a random package is unpacked - there should be no peeling particles or pigment falling off on the fingers.

DIY painting instructions

To make colored painted chips yourself, you will need a concrete mixer, a mesh sieve, film, a shovel, clean containers and the actual raw materials: washed and dried crushed stone (any except limestone) and pigments. Step by step instructions includes the following steps:

• Preparation of crushed material.
• Filling crushed stone and pigment into the bowl of a concrete mixer. The amount of paint is calculated based on the requirements of the instructions; in the absence of instructions, its minimum is 30%.
• Rotation of the drum - at high frequency, from 15 to 60 minutes, the exact timing depends on the volume. The main goal at this stage is to achieve a uniform color.
• Drain excess paint using a sieve box and dry it on plastic film - from 3 to 12 hours in the open air under normal humidity conditions.

The technology is economical; the resulting excess paint can be poured into a concrete mixer again; the crushed stone you make yourself is not inferior in quality to the offered brands. The painted material is suitable for use within a day.

The need to paint crushed gravel and crushed stone in bright and beautiful colors occurs when designing areas around reservoirs, forming original flower beds and embankments and the implementation of other landscape projects. The business of its production is highly profitable; with a small amount of dye for crushed stone (within 1 kg per 100) and little effort, the output is high-quality and highly decorative material of any desired shade. The technology is considered simple and accessible to perform at home; the volume of products produced is limited only by the size of the concrete mixer bowl.

For these purposes, compositions that are resistant to moisture, ultraviolet radiation and mechanical abrasion are required, ideally changing shade when dissolved with water or mixed with other dyes. There are no special restrictions; sprayed aerosols, façade and alkyd enamels, cement with dry additives and water-borne PVA mixed with pigment. But optimal results are achieved when purchasing polymer paints based on acrylic resins, silicates and styrenes. Having a light resistance of at least 6-7 units and high adhesion to minimal surfaces, they do not fade, wash out or wear off for several years. Special varnishes help to consolidate the effect, but under normal conditions they are not necessary.

Among the time-tested options are Decoril based on high-strength organic dyes, organosilicate composition OS-12-03, acrylic VD-AK-191 and universal enamel PF-115. All of them have a rich and diverse color scheme and adhere well to the edges of crushed stone. When choosing a specific brand, future operating conditions are taken into account. When planning to fill flower beds and fences in nets, high-quality façade enamel is sufficient; to obtain a filler suitable for decorating ponds and aquariums, you need to buy a polymer variety based on acrylics.

The given brands are relevant when processing individual portions of gravel using a volumetric method - by mixing in the bowl of a concrete mixer or a clean container. When planning to work with aerosols, it is recommended to purchase car spray cans or similar sprays with high adhesion. To reduce their consumption, future decorative crushed stone should first be sprayed or completely soaked in a container with roughness-reducing compounds. For these purposes, you can buy ordinary building primers for outdoor use.

Dyeing technology

The process includes several simple steps: sorting, cleaning and drying the material → preparing working tools and paintwork materials (most are implemented in finished form or easily diluted with water, but some cheap brands and independent mixtures require pre-soaking and thorough stirring) → loading into a bowl or hopper and direct painting → decanting the remaining liquid (if any), drying and packaging colored crushed stone. Each step requires control, otherwise the grains will not be covered with a uniform film.

At the preparation stage, the stone is cleaned of large debris and, if necessary, sifted through a screen to obtain the desired faction, washed with water and dried. The maximum decorative effect is achieved when applying polymer paint to a medium grain size of 10 mm or more. Ignore the need for pre-treatment It is not recommended; if there is large debris, individual particles stick together and look unsightly, and the coating peels off faster. Rough, unwashed varieties may also change to a darker color later.

The easiest way to clean is directly on a sieve or mesh using a hose; water under pressure will wash the crushed stone from all sides and drain without delay. When using polymer paint, the fractions are completely dried. At this stage, the crushed grain is laid out in a uniform layer on a grid or mesh and left outside or in a room with good ventilation until the moisture is completely removed. During preparation, it is recommended to divide the material in advance into separate portions of 2/3 of the volume of the mixer bowl. The proportion of acrylic paintwork materials is calculated based on the proportions specified in the instructions or from the ratio 20/80 or 70/30.

After this, it is enough to pour the fractions into the bowl, fill it with color and start the mixing mode for an average of 40 minutes. The operating principle of the mixer (forced or gravity) does not play a special role, but during processing the equipment is protected from overload and overheating. Some types dry faster - in 15-20 minutes, the exact interval is determined experimentally.

The process is considered complete after the particles are completely covered with the emulsion and a strong and durable film is formed on them. There should be no unpainted edges or surfaces left. The entire stage takes no more than 1 hour.

If the correct proportions are observed, the output is almost dry colored crushed stone. To get rid of residues, the material is unloaded onto a sieve or mesh and held over the pallet for some time. After this, the fractions are left to dry completely in the open air. When using modern species paint and distribution thin layer this process takes a few hours, no more. Completely dry products are poured into boxes or packaged for sale. It is not possible to store it in bulk for a long time.

Painted crushed stone different colors, will be an excellent decoration for the garden in the form of paths and various other decorative elements. Today, buying colored crushed stone is absolutely not a problem, but why pay for something you can do yourself?

Painting crushed stone at home is quite simple, and almost any coloring compositions are suitable for this work: enamels, water-dispersed paints, acrylics, etc. How to paint crushed stone at home with your own hands will be discussed in this site review.

The demand for colored crushed stone today is very high. This material is used with great success in decorating areas, landscape design and more. Painted crushed stone has also become widespread in the design of aquariums. True, not any coloring matter can be used for these purposes.

So, before painting crushed stone, you should decide on the most optimal coloring agent for these purposes. How inappropriately they fit here. They can be skillfully replaced with PVA glue with dye. But why experiment when you can use a completely ready-made coloring composition to paint crushed stone.

The most important requirement for paint in this case is that it does not fade in the sun and does not allow moisture to pass through. As mentioned above, the most successful of all for painting crushed stone is acrylic paint.

However, the coloring substance is not all that is needed to paint crushed stone with your own hands. To perform this procedure you will also need necessary tool, namely:

1. Concrete mixer or vibrating sieve;
2. Sieve for drying material;
3. Empty containers.

Before painting crushed stone, it must be sifted to separate smaller stones that are unacceptable for further use. As a rule, the size of crushed stone varies from 3-30 mm, and anything smaller is eliminated manually using such a simple device as a sieve.

After the crushed stone has been sifted, it will need to be thoroughly washed running water. This is done so that the acrylic paint adheres to the material as well as possible and does not fall off of it later.

The easiest way to wash crushed stone at home is to pour it onto the same sieve, placing the last one on wooden pallet. It is better to rinse with running water from a hose, periodically stirring the crushed stone with a shovel or any other tool convenient for these purposes.

After washing the material, you need to give it time to dry completely. Under no circumstances should paint be applied to wet material!

So, after the crushed stone has been sifted to the required fraction and thoroughly washed, you can begin painting it. Here, inappropriately, a concrete mixer will come to the rescue, of course, clean inside, without dust and, especially, cement mortar stuck to the walls.

The process of painting crushed stone in a concrete mixer is as follows:

1. First, crushed stone is poured into the concrete mixer, approximately 2/3 of its volume;
2. Then 30% is poured directly into the concrete mixer. acrylic paint from the total volume of poured crushed stone;
3. After which the concrete mixer is put into operation for about an hour. After the crushed stone is completely painted on all sides, the concrete mixer can be stopped;
4. Well, then the crushed stone painted in this way is laid out on a sieve and dried until the paint is completely dry.

As you can see, painting crushed stone at home is not at all difficult. The main thing is to avoid mistakes at the stage of preparing the material for this procedure. Only in this case will the colored crushed stone last for the longest possible period of time, and the flowerbed decorated with it will always please.

The emergence of a new type of bulk powder for the domestic market building material produced something similar to a revolution, in particular in landscape design, because for many years the product of crushing different breeds stone, called crushed stone, was used mainly in the manufacture of reinforced concrete structures, concrete mixtures, pillows under highways and so on. Thanks to production technology, colored crushed stone has also gained recognition as a decorative raw material.

Fine stone is produced by crushing granite and marble rock and painted in various colors. The production of painted crushed stone involves the use of polymer and acrylic waterproof dyes. The parameters of this raw material are as follows:

*Aeff – specific activity of radionuclides, an indicator of the environmental safety of raw materials.

The advantages are:

• high strength;
• durability, which significantly reduces the cost of maintaining and maintaining park areas;
• resistance to temperature changes;
• environmental safety, lack of toxic emissions;
• the coating can be easily removed and/or transferred to another area.

The scope of use of multi-colored stone is extremely wide:

• Landscape design, arrangement and improvement of personal and summer cottages. For example, decorative colored marble crushed stone is used to decorate flower beds and flower beds.
• In road construction for designing pedestrian paths.
• Pet stores and pet owners use it as a filler to keep their pets in aquariums and terrariums.
• In the field of funeral services, painted crushed stone is used in the cemetery for graves and backfilling paths in areas.

How to paint yourself

Making colored crushed stone with your own hands is quite simple. In addition to the raw materials, you will need:

• concrete mixer;
• metal mesh;
• a container for painted stone, which is a large box with a fine mesh stretched over the top;
• shovel;
• polymer or acrylic waterproof paints for exterior use.

The manufacturing process consists of the following stages:

1. Preparation. Since factory raw materials (crushed stone) may contain grains different sizes, it is necessary to sift it in order to select a homogeneous fraction for staining. To do this, a metal mesh is installed at an angle of 60º to the surface of the earth and crushed stone is thrown onto it with a shovel. Large rocks roll down the mesh, and small rocks accumulate under the sieve.

2. Painting. The sifted material is loaded into a concrete mixer, then paint is poured in an amount of at least 30% of the volume of the stone, otherwise the coating of the raw material will be uneven. The dyeing process takes about 15 minutes on average.

3. Drying. The treated stone is laid out on a box with a mesh and kept on it until excess paint drains from it, and then poured onto a prepared piece of polyethylene for final drying. This process takes from 1 to 3 hours, depending on the air temperature, but it can be speeded up by using a gas burner.