Expanded clay color. Colored decorative expanded clay (sale)

The development of the construction industry leads to the appearance on the market various materials, quite simple and in demand. One of the new types of building materials that has found wide application both in landscape design and in aquariums and construction is colored gravel.

We will talk about its advantages, manufacturing technology and use cases today.

The use of painted gravel

Painted gravel is currently in demand by landscape and building designers, owners of garden and suburban areas, urban engineering services for improvement, and owners of large aquariums. Rubble allows you to get original variants decoration of garden and park paths, flower beds, fountains, the bottom of aquariums, as well as floor mosaic panels V residential buildings and apartments.

In landscape design, this new material fell in love with a number of useful properties:

it is decorative

allows the soil to breathe and conducts moisture well, preventing its rapid evaporation;
significantly limits the viability of weeds, preventing their development.

Do-it-yourself crushed stone staining technology

Currently, three types of crushed stone are most accessible to the inhabitants of our country - granite, marble and lime. At the same time, depending on the geological features of different regions, the cost of mined and imported species may differ slightly. Lime crushed stone is distinguished by enhanced coating, which complicates its coloring and reduces the quality of the finished product. Granite and marble crushed stone of small fractions have received the greatest application for coloring.

As a rule, crushed stone of a cubic shape with an element size of no more than 10-15 millimeters is optimal for coloring.

In the absence of the possibility of acquiring a homogeneous material, it will be necessary to calibrate it using special devices or improvised means.

To carry out work on painting gravel, you will need:

1. a place for unloading raw materials, drying and storing finished products; the optimal is the presence of an electrified land plot with an area of 1-2 acres and a simple canopy located on it.

2. electric concrete mixer purchased or homemade;

3. dye in the ratio of 20 kg. for each ton of crushed stone;

4. a screen for separating crushed stone into fractions or a steel mesh with cells of a suitable size in a wooden frame;

5. water tank with a volume of 100-200 liters;

6. several plastic honeycomb boxes for washing raw materials, unloading freshly painted gravel.

In the event that the result of the work is necessary for you personally, the organization of production will not require high costs finance and strength. Having prepared everything you need and purchased a granite crushed stone machine, we proceed to its coloring. To do this, using an industrial screen or a mesh device, we separate the stones required size, we wash the granite in portions, lowering a bucket of raw materials in a plastic box into the water and making several reciprocating movements. Then we pour the gravel onto a flat base - sheets of old linoleum, metal, wood flooring and so on. Drying time depends on the season and layer thickness. After 0.5 - 1 hour, we pour a couple of buckets of crushed stone into the concrete mixer, turn it on and add the dye in portions.

As the latter, water-based or acrylic paint is the most affordable. Pour it in small portions of about 0.5 kg. per load depending on the desired brightness and color intensity. Coloring occurs within 40-60 minutes with stirring. Next is the extraction of raw materials into wooden box with a mesh bottom, located above the container to collect the flowing excess dye. Then the distribution of freshly painted crushed stone under a canopy for drying and storage of the finished material.

More difficult from a technological point of view is the coloring of preheated crushed stone with nitro paints. This technology requires a gas cylinder and a burner. At the same time, the quality of coloring is high, the resulting colored gravel long time does not burn out.

In the case of organizing a business for the manufacture and sale of painted gravel, one should first work out the technology of the production process on a small batch. Having received enough material High Quality We start looking for future customers. Implement finished products it is possible both in large quantities and at retail through hardware stores or bases. The main thing is to study the demand for this species goods for a particular region and lack of competition. For packing small batches, it is convenient to use polyethylene or paper bags of sufficient strength.

Dear readers, if you still have questions, ask them using the form below. We will be glad to communicate with you;)

Comments12 comments

Thanks for the idea, interesting technology for staining rubble! Is the type of gravel important for subsequent work on it? I think. that crushed granite, such as that of LSK JSC, is best suited. Although now you can find such rubble of an already characteristic natural color, so there will be no need to spend time and effort on processing it. Well, exotic colors are certainly better to do according to your method!

Firstly, you need not miscalculate the size of the rubble, then it is better to take a smooth stone, and small colored pebbles will generally be perfectly painted and look great in the end.

You know how much money you will give for small colored pebbles for production volumes !!! If it’s purely for yourself, it’s still okay, but the price for the consumer will be too expensive for the implementation

Tell me which paint is better to use! And which drying method

Polyurethane paint or varnish will give an excellent result

Do you practice wholesale? Price by email if possible

Good afternoon. Could you leave your phone number for a consultation. Thank you in advance.

In the photo it is glossy like glass, in practice this effect does not work, even when I just painted it with a lacquer, the lacquer tints slightly and the gloss is not the same as if it was painted with enameled paint. Who knows the answer according to the technology of the coloring itself for gloss?

Good afternoon.
If painted with acrylic paint, how long will it last? Subject to outdoor use in rain / snow, from +30 to -35

Good afternoon
please tell me what kind of paint to use to get glossy painted gravel. Front acrylic paints opaque. Thank you.

A two-component polyurethane compound in RAL colors is best suited. It dries fairly quickly to a tack-free state and gives a durable semi-gloss finish. They paint not only rubble, but also quartz sand, which can be useful when creating color compositions. The coating will not lose color for decades and will not peel off the pebbles. And if you lay out the crushed stone immediately after painting at the place of its installation, then before this drying, the pebbles will stick together with each other, creating a fairly strong carpet, while leaving gaps for water to pass into the ground. Of course, you should not walk on them - the area of \u200b\u200btheir adhesion to each other is too small due to the texture of the rubble. Although, if you take a fraction of 5-10, then with a fairly thick layer, you can get a colored track. It is on this principle that coatings are created using the Kamenskhvat composition produced in Russia.

Reading time ≈ 5 minutes

Variety of colors for personal plot, especially in the immediate vicinity of the house, is always admired, and these can be bulk materials. But, how and with what to paint rubble at home, so as not to spend a lot of money on the purchase of finished material? If you stay on this page, you will get the answer to this question and more.

The color scheme of paints can include the entire spectrum of the rainbow.

Where can it be used

Video: A selection of landscape design photos

The use of painted decorative gravel began not so long ago, but, nevertheless, the popularity of the method and the material itself very quickly entered our lives. For landscape design and the exterior as a whole, such material can be called a real find. It is used for and , and .

Carpet of colored gravel at the gazebo

As always, the reaction of the construction market to demand was very fast and it is quite natural that these products immediately went on sale. Decorative crushed stone, or, as it is also commonly called, granite chips, can be purchased at warehouses, shops and building trade centers. But the whole problem is that such material costs an order of magnitude more than ordinary fine gravel, therefore, for those who have enough time, it is much more profitable to paint it with their own hands.

If you look at the issue of painting from a technical point of view, then this process cannot be called too complicated, and it can be done at home. Of course, in addition to an ardent desire, you will need the necessary equipment and tools, which will allow you to carry out your plan without much effort. You just have to follow step by step instructions below and you'll be fine.

Separation of material into fractions

Different fractions of rubble

You probably noticed that in compositions using painted gravel, the entire stone has the same fraction, it looks much better in terms of design. But the question lies not only in the design requirements, but also in the staining technology - a material with particles of the same size stains much better than a different fractional instance.

Note. Sifting the material will not only make it possible to separate the particles by the same size, but also get rid of the debris that is inevitably present there.

There are special mechanisms for separating bulk materials by grain size, but we are talking about homework, therefore, there can be no talk of anything like this - a sieve with one or another cell size is used here. It is not difficult to make a sieve with one or another cell size: for this you can use the Chain-link mesh, with a certain size. The mesh is stretched onto the frame, crushed stone is thrown there with a shovel and raked with a chopper. The mini version is no worse, when the frame is made about 50 × 40 cm and the rubble is sifted by hand, but this requires physical endurance.

In this case, crushed stone with a fraction of 10-15 mm will be the most marketable - it is easier to paint it yourself, so the sieve cell should be selected based on these parameters. The sifted material should be washed with running water to remove dirt and dust from granite - on clean walls, adhesion with paint will increase by several orders of magnitude.

How does coloring work

Musical flowerbed

Almost all paint compositions are suitable for coloring, and these are:

enamels;
water-dispersed paints;
alkyd paints;
acrylic paints;
color mixed with PVA glue.

When choosing a coloring matter, two things are taken into account:

UV resistant (does not fade).
Moisture permeability (won't wash off).

These requirements are best met by acrylic paints - they are not washed off when exposed to precipitation and do not fade in the sun. Another plus this drug we can call it ecological cleanliness, that is, such coatings are absolutely harmless to human health.

Painting in a concrete mixer

Coloring crushed stone in a concrete mixer

So, we need a bunker for painting crushed stone and the most common concrete mixer used for small construction projects will serve as an excellent quality (most often it has a volume of 0.7 m3). The whole process can be divided into five main steps:

The washed and dried material is poured into the drum, filling it by 2/3 of the total volume.
Now the rubble should be slightly warmed up, if, of course, it did not dry out in the heat in the sun. To do this, it is most convenient to use a gas burner - the flame is directed to the drum during its rotation.
Pour paint into a rotating drum at the rate of 3/7, as mentioned above in the text.
1 hour mix the resulting composition. This should be enough to evenly distribute the pigment over the stone.
Pour the painted stone onto a grid with a pallet.

Below you can watch the video of this process.

Video: Painting crushed stone in a concrete mixer

Drying

Drying of painted gravel

For drying, it is best to use some kind of container with a metal mesh stretched over it, where the cell is less than 10 mm. It turns out that the excess paint will drain onto the pallet (container), and it can be reused. In addition, the release of excess coloring pigment will increase the drying speed. Please note that during the process it is undesirable for water to get on the drying material, therefore, in case of rain, cover the drying place with a piece of whole (without holes and breaks) polyethylene.

Conclusion

Now you know how and with what to paint rubble at home and, probably, you are convinced that it is not difficult at all. So, if you need a beautiful one, then everything is in your hands.

Created for decorative design flowerbeds, flower beds, trunk circles of trees in parks, gardens, on summer cottages, shops, etc.

Decorative expanded clay can be used to decorate your office or apartment by pouring it into flower pots with the top layer.

A variety of colors of expanded clay gives a wide scope for creativity and will serve both professional designers and amateur gardeners.

Expanded clay decorative can be used in the design of the landscape, as an excellent artistic tool for highlighting landscape gardening and flower beds. Colored claydite is made using a technology that has no analogues in the Republic of Belarus from environmentally friendly expanded clay using environmentally friendly coloring materials and has a neutral pH for the soil.

Decorative expanded clay - in addition to decorative, performs a lot practical functions. This is an excellent covering material that:

contributes to the conservation of moisture in the root layer of plants, due to a sharp decrease in its evaporation.
-protects against sharp temperature fluctuations, maintaining a favorable microclimate on the soil surface. Decorative expanded clay effectively protects the soil from overheating on hot days and from hypothermia in severe frosts, thereby having a beneficial effect on the root system of plants.
- prevents the growth of weeds. Young seedlings of weeds are less active due to lack of light.
- prevents soil compaction and soil crust formation, provides good air ventilation. The soil covered with decorative expanded clay is less susceptible to compaction as a result of intensive watering, rain and walking.

LEAKED DECORATIVE

Environmentally friendly product with exclusive coloring technology. Expanded clay is painted with dyes, which in the process further use have proven themselves to be the best. High light and water resistance, high frost resistance, neutral pH for the soil. With a long stay on the soil surface, expanded clay absorbs excess moisture, salt, and other substances, but the painted surface remains in its original state.

Decorative expanded clay is used in apartments, offices when growing flower and ornamental plants in pots, flowerpots and containers of great weight.

By pouring decorative expanded clay in a pot around the plant, you protect upper layer soil from overheating, preventing the rapid evaporation of moisture. In addition, the appearance of mold, mosses on the soil surface is excluded, moisture and air exchange is optimized.

When installing pots with plants in large containers, the voids between the pots are covered with expanded clay. Saturated with water during irrigation, expanded clay subsequently creates a favorable microclimate around plants, evaporating absorbed moisture, optimizes humidity in dry rooms with central heating, and helps plants endure periods of forced drought.

When forming alpine slides, add a layer of decorative expanded clay, and you will thereby protect the soil from drying out and overheating.

Write: [email protected]

Colored gravel is a natural stone fine fraction, subjected to coloring. Painted crushed stone has a smooth surface and does not lose its properties under the influence of high humidity, various temperature conditions, ultraviolet radiation and other negative events.

Description of the business idea for the production of colored gravel

The material also has other names, for example: colored gravel, painted stone, painted pebbles. The decorative crushed stone in bags is realized. Scope of the original finishing material large enough: this landscape design, and interior decoration, and facade cladding, and even decoration of aquariums.

Our business valuation:

Starting investments - from 100,000 rubles.

Market saturation is average.

The complexity of starting a business is 5/10.

The production of decorative colored gravel can become a profitable business with a good development prospect in Russia. And this despite the fact that the initial stage of opening an enterprise does not require large financial investments.
Business can be done even on the packing of stone: the price of 1 ton of simple crushed stone is about 2,000 rubles, the price of a bag is 300 rubles. Considering the comparative high cost painted pebbles, then we can assume the profitability of the enterprise.

stone coloring technology

The technology for the production of colored gravel is not a complicated process, but it requires some knowledge about the properties of dyes and adherence to the algorithm of actions. Staining of simple marble rubble takes place in several stages: painting with special dyes, drying, packaging, transportation to the place of sale or storage. One pack decorative stone weighs approximately 20-25 kg.

A novice entrepreneur needs to know what paints are used in the manufacturing process of the original finishing material. According to experts, the best pigment is acrylic paint for colored gravel, but there are other options for giving the desired shade to gravel.

The cost of equipment for painting gravel

The production of colored gravel is impossible without the right equipment and tools. When using ready-made raw materials, stone coloring is carried out at minimal cost. The expense item will include only the purchase of crushed stone or pebbles, dyes and some devices that can be placed in a small area, no more than 100 m2.

Equipment for the production of colored crushed stone should have an optimal ratio of productivity and cost.

The kit includes the following devices:

container for raw materials (bunker);
concrete mixer (for painting);
vibrating sieve (sifting stones);
bunker for storage of finished material;
packing device (or unit for sewing up packing).

To load and unload crushed stone, you need to purchase 2-4 shovels, costing about 300 rubles. a piece. The material is packed in 20-25 kg per bag, on this basis, 2000 bags of 4.5 - 5 rubles should be bought for a month. a piece.

Bulk containers building materials having a volume of 10 cubic meters. meters cost about 150 thousand rubles. a piece. A concrete mixer of the required power - from 25 thousand rubles. The cost of the vibrating sieve varies within 90 thousand rubles. When choosing a machine for sewing bags, you should pay attention to Belgian manufacturers. The cost of the device is about 45 thousand rubles.

The kit is designed for the production of colored crushed stone in the amount of about 10 cubic meters. meters in 8-10 hours.

If there is a shortage of funds, you can do without bunkers for the first time, for example, make homemade boxes. The material can also be sifted manually using screens with a suitable mesh size, postponing the purchase of a vibrating sieve until better times.

You can paint colored gravel with your own hands using various paints and binders. The composition of the dyes may include various components, so the cost of the color will be different.

Judging by the set of equipment and materials, an enterprise for the production of painted crushed stone can be opened with minimal costs, not exceeding 100 thousand rubles. On initial stage the help of two hired workers who do not have qualifications and certain skills is enough.

Gravel painting technology

In order to prevent marriage during the production process, you should familiarize yourself in more detail with how to make colored gravel with your own hands. This requires material with a fraction of 10-30 mm, dyes and binders.

The main stages of production:

selection of crushed stone of the desired fraction and separation of debris, while it is important to remember that the material is better painted with a fraction of 10 mm;
loading raw materials into a concrete mixer;
addition of dyes: no more than 20% of the total volume of the material;
mixing paint and gravel for an hour until the material is covered with a uniform film;
removing a stone from a concrete mixer using a special mesh through which excess coloring matter is removed;
drying the material;
finished products.

Financial part

To calculate the profit from one ton of output, you should know the cost of raw materials and the market price of painted crushed stone. Crushed stone costs about 2000 rubles. per ton. The price of acrylic paint is 200 rubles. for 1 kg. To paint 1 ton of crushed stone, you need to spend about 20 kg of paint, that is, 4000 rubles. The cost of a ton of painted decorative stone is 6,000 rubles. The average market price of finishing material varies from 23,000 rubles. per ton. The maximum deductions are 50% of net profit. As a result, the entrepreneur will receive about 8,000-10,000 thousand rubles from 1 ton of painted crushed stone. income.

This is an excellent indicator for .

Sales of products

To determine the sales market, you need to know: in what areas is the painted decorative stone in demand?

Regular customers, including wholesalers, can be:

private traders who buy stone for finishing facades, flower beds, paths, etc.;
utility services;
organizations involved in landscape design;
funeral services bureau;
aquarium salons;
pet stores and

You can search for customers on your own or using the services of the media, but you need to remember about some seasonality of the goods: the highest demand is observed from March to September inclusive.

Outdoor decorative work in the form of garden decoration, laying out sidewalk paths, decorating flower beds can be done using such a popular material as colored gravel. It has virtually unlimited colors(like the paint itself), therefore it allows you to perform any design ideas. But in building stores, such material will cost 2-3 times more than its unpainted counterpart, so the question arises, how to paint the rubble yourself?

Application spectrum

The demand for this material is due to the fact that it can be used to achieve a brighter and stylish design adjoining area, as well as to create whole picture-messages reflecting some idea. Painted gravel is used for the following purposes:

Creation original flower beds and lawns;
registration of sites around artificial reservoirs;
landscape works;
filling terrariums and aquariums (fine gravel).

Choosing a coloring agent

In conditions when you plan to carry out small finishing work, you do not want to purchase a large amount of building materials, therefore it is better to make crushed stone in color with your own hands, measuring as much stone as you need for the task.

The good news for many will be the fact that the production technology is simple, and the consumption is small - only 1 kg of paint is taken per 100 kg of crushed stone. This rule applies if you are going to paint in a concrete mixer, and with other methods, the consumption increases.

To accomplish this task, you can use any coloring compositions: alkyd paints, water-dispersed, enamels, sometimes even take PVA glue mixed with a dye. But the most favorable option for this purpose is acrylic paint.

This is due to the fact that you need a substance that is resistant to moisture, as well as not fading in the sun, able to keep the color for a long time. This is how the above paint is characterized, but besides this, it is also harmless, both for humans and for nature.

Required equipment

To make the whole staining procedure go quickly and without hesitation, you will need the following devices:

concrete mixer;
machine "roar" - vibrating sieve;
grate or sieve for washing or drying;
pallet;
container for storing finished material.

Stone preparation before painting

When buying crushed stone, you get a heterogeneous composition, the size of each stone can vary from 10 to 30 mm. There are also smaller fractions that are more applicable for interior decoration. That is why sizing is necessary.

This can be done manually on a sieve with the right size cells, or, which is faster and easier, use the "roar" machine. Any of the above technologies provides for the separation of excess litter, too small pebbles, sand.

But in order for the acrylic paint to hold well, the crushed stone must also be washed. This will ensure that the dye adheres better to the surface of the stone and allows you to create exactly the shade that you want, because if not washed, the stone can darken.

Washing can be carried out directly on the screen, pouring from a hose or water from a bucket. Due to the fact that the machine creates shaking, cleaning will take place from all sides. After that, the washed mass is laid out in a uniform layer on the grate and drying is carried out on outdoors.

The process of creating painted gravel

There is only one way to paint rubble, and it is almost automatic, since your participation in the main process will be minimal. The most efficient and time-saving technology involves the use of a concrete mixer. After you have prepared all the components properly, you can proceed to the painting itself, which consists of several stages:

Crushed stone should be placed in a concrete mixer for two-thirds of the volume of the machine (if the capacity is 0.7 cubic meters).
Pour paint in a ratio of 30 percent to 70 percent of the stone.
Start the mechanism and wait 40-60 minutes until the stone is completely covered with a colored layer.
At the end of the “kneading”, drying follows - lay everything on the grid, substituting a tray under the bottom, where the remaining paint will run.

Dried painted gravel is not desirable to store in the open air, it is better to use a closed container.

To protect against external influences, it is possible to use. This will give the material an additional decorative effect.

Another coloring method

If you don’t have a concrete mixer at your disposal, then it will be more difficult to create painted crushed stone, but it’s possible that you will have to pour the stone into a container with paint and mix it yourself, and then dry the crushed stone.

Or just spray paint on the stone, but this method does not give a uniform color and uniform staining on all sides.

Making your own painted gravel for finishing park areas or a plot near the house is much cheaper than buying a finished product: you will pay a thousand rubles for an unpainted product, while a colored one costs over 20 thousand. Given such savings and an extremely logical production technology, the idea of making crushed stone for decoration with your own hands is rationally conditioned.