Aging Block and Pavers

The production of block and pavers becomes more of an art every day. People want not only to see the shape and color that meet their expectations, but also wear that that they dream of. Wear? yes Wear. Many people want pavers to look as if they have been walked upon for a good hundred years or so. Ideally, this would make a neutral viewer think that you have snatched them off the streets of a beautiful European city.

Making a paver looked aged is a challenge, and certainly not everyone can agree on the best way to created such a finish. there are however several methods to making a pavers with the worn surface and rounded edges that people love so much.

First and most important, you must make a very high quality paver. No body wants paver that are broken in half on their drive way or patio. Broken pavers are junk. (Note: if you do have a lot of broken, junky pavers or block, we make a Hammermill crusher you may love). The product has to be able to stand up to the aging process. This means excellent compaction and density, and that means you need the right equipment and top notch people running it.

Tumbling:

One of the simplest ways to get an aged look on a paver is to tumble it. An offline aging method. The process is fairly straight forward. You take a pallet or two of pavers and dump them into a cylinder that has a 4' -6' diameter and is 20ish feet long and let them bang around for awhile. Then when they look right, you pour them out and have several people pick them up and stack them by hand (except for the broken ones which you can just toss into the Hammermill). Clearly this is labor intensive. the aging is random, which is nice, but sometimes it is too random, and it is better with some shape and sizes that others.


Inline Aging:
There are several inline aging systems available. Some drop bearings on the pavers surface others pound the product with chains or weights, Some even use the Hammer of Thor himself (which is an in-line tumbling system). Inline aging is great and if done right you end up with a minimum of waste and great looking product.

Splitting:

another way to get a nature and aged look on a product, especially a concrete block, it split it into two pieces. This leaves a rugged uneven surface where to block was separated. This has become very popular in commercial construction and on retaining walls. Splitting fits very well in line and can easily be incorporated into most plants without requiring additional labor.




Spraying and Blasting:
Another way to get a nice aged look on a paver or block is with either shot blasting, sand blasting or spraying the product. Blasting is often done post curing (on a dry, hard product), while the spraying is often done on green product (pre-cured)