FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Products
Product range, specifications
Multi-Colour products. Their manufacturing process
“Exposed” surface texture products. Their characteristics
Product characteristics
Lime spots on the block surface. Will they disappear?
Features of the manufacturing technology
What are the advantages of concrete paving blocks, their characteristics, and required care?
Colour spots. What is it?
Colour deviations
How to maintain the pavement?
Paver laying
How to prepare the primer and lay the paving?
Products
Product range: paving, sidewalk and lattice tiles, lawn borders and curbs, architectural features. The products are available in six colours (black, grey, brown, red, yellow, green). Also Vilnius factory has equipment to produce the “exposed surface” texture blocks. Kaunas and Šiauliai plants produce mottled Multi-Colour components. The biggest advantage of the vibro-press technology is high strength of products, determining very important qualities – splitting tensile strength, abrasion and weather-resistance, durability.
According to the latest standards of quality, the average splitting tensile strength of concrete paving blocks must be not less than 3.6 MPa. Absorption of blocks should not exceed 6 percent regardless of the surface or soil moisture.
Landscape elements manufactured by modern technological equipment allow extending the service life of covered areas, ensuring their durability, versatility, aesthetics appeal and laying patterns.
Due to high strength and durability of concrete blocks, their scope of application is relatively wide. They can be used to not only tidy up the environment, but also for covering parking areas, terminals, port berths. Paving blocks are suitable for any areas, they are convenient to transport; they have exact dimensions and are available in various thicknesses.
In the manufacture of concrete paving blocks by automatic vibrating pressing methods, the concrete mix is made of certified materials, cost-effective components, weather resistant pigments, product quality is monitored automatically, therefore only the best quality products are offered to customers and users.
Multi-Colour products. Their manufacturing process
The distinguished characteristic of Multi Colour production technology is the possibility to make products from concrete mixture of a number of custom colours, according to a predetermined program in automatic mode. The product surface can be coated in various shades of colours their combinations. Modern automated manufacturing technology allows the manufacture of products of various colour compositions, selecting one or several dominant colours chosen by customers and designers. The appearance of these blocks is very much like clinker bricks. Two-and three-colour multi-colour products are available as well.
“Exposed” surface texture products. Their characteristics
Exposed surface texture blocks are produced with modern equipment that enables to wash out fine particles from block surface during the manufacturing process. The surface is rough, exposing marble and granite. Raw materials of these products are white marble, red granite, black granite and other different chippings exported from Italy, Germany. This coating is particularly useful in slippery areas in winter thanks to its unique properties and the exceptional surface.
Product characteristics
Lime spots on the block surface. Will they disappear?
An increasing number of buyers of blocks and other landscape elements contact manufacturers asking about the origins of white spots on their backyard bricks. People fear if this has happened during the manufacturing process, will the spots disappear, and so on. We can confidently assure you that spots really do not affect the concrete physical and chemical properties. The main reason for white spots is lime deposits. Our long-term experience has shown that it is really a temporary phenomenon. This happens when rain water, during the storage of products, dissolves and washes out lime deposits on the surface. As usual, after paving the cover, spots disappear in one or two winter seasons. We know that cement meeting all highest quality requirements contains lime, production of cement without lime is impossible. Therefore, there is no suitable high quality concrete containing such a low content of lime as to avoid white spots on the surface of products. In chemical sense, after evaporation of water, calcium hydrate reacts with carbon dioxide from air and calcifies on the surface of blocks. Without doubt, lime intensity highly depends on our weather conditions. Therefore, these spots are really not the manufacturer’s fault.
Features of the manufacturing technology
UAB Betono Mozaika of its factories has the latest equipment and the up-to-date technology that allowed producing concrete landscaping products by using vibrating compression technology, and automation of the manufacturing processes. The company started to produce a wide range of concrete paving blocks of various shapes, thicknesses and textures, using additives and pigments, resistant to weathering.
Resistance to moisture depends on the compaction of blocks while using chemical additives - Plastolith A and Plastolith F.
The composition of concrete blocks may vary - it includes the respective proportions of cement, gravel, rubble stone, granite screenings, grit. Concrete paving blocks are made of two layers - the bottom (the support), and the top (finishing). The bottom layer is made of coarse material and the top has more fine matter. Basically, the same production technologies are used to make concrete paving blocks and payment tiles, and often landscaping architects offer to create a combined pattern of the two products in the yard. Colour blocks and made by adding REBAcolour pigment. Rich colour of this pigment lasts for years; however, shades of different batches may vary. Colour changes in blocks are inevitable due to the characteristics and shades of raw materials, and variations in curing conditions. Each batch has different quality indicators; it also depends on raw materials, thus colour laying tiles we recommend to mix them from different pallets. Blocks are mechanically tested in independent laboratories.
Vibration compression technology applied for the production of landscaping concrete products, led to high levels of labour productivity, and automation of the production process. Closed-cycle manufacturing process has reduced environmental pollution.
Computer control of the production process allows making high-quality products and ensuring the stability of quality. In addition to cost efficiency and large capacity, the main factors behind the advantages of vibrating pressing automatic lines is a wide range of products and their high strength.
Modern technologies of UAB Betono Mozaika allow carrying out continuous monitoring of all production cycles and their automatic control, fast setting of parameters, error display, adjustment of the vibration range, concrete pouring process and compression.
What are the advantages of concrete paving blocks, their characteristics, and required care?
Concrete landscaping elements produced by modern equipment of UAB Betono Mozaika will extend the service time of covered areas, their durability, versatility, aesthetic appearance.
Due to high strength and durability, concrete blocks have various applications. They can be used not only to tidy up the environment, but also took over parking areas, terminals, port berths. Paving blocks are suitable for any areas, they are convenient to transport, they have exact dimensions and can be of different thickness.
The blocks have flexible laying options, if necessary, they can be easily picked up and placed elsewhere, and can be laid mechanically. Blocks are interconnected to create a seamless surface that can be used immediately, no need to wait until the concrete cures or the surface dries up. Another advantage of blocks is that every block can be replaced if it becomes unusable. They can be conveniently delivered to the final consumer - products are sold both in units and in square meters. Concrete block pavements are resistant to temperature changes, abrasion, dynamic loads, they are good in absorbing vehicle wheel pressure, they are environment friendly and durable.
Modern UAB Betono Mozaika paving surfaces are less expensive than asphalt, or clinker tiles. High production capacity of automated vibration molding lines, lower production costs leads to lower cost of paving.
In order to obtain the optimal combination, our company recommends mixing a few trays of blocks - it is advisable especially when preparing to lay coloured products. Mixture of several pallets of products allows to avoid colour spots. For certain reasons (e.g. different batches), blocks on different colour palettes may vary slightly and if laid without mixing, blocks from different trays have rather distinctive different shades which cause stripes on the pavement.
Even if all factors affecting the colour are taken into account, concrete products made from natural fillers sometimes have colour variations. They are technically unavoidable and do not affect the practical value of concrete products. Colour shades and differences usually fade away during the normal weathering and wear process. In case of colour products, we use only high quality, proven colour pigments. However, the wear and climatic impacts over time can lead to optical changes, for example, colour and texture. This effect may become apparent when the products are partially under the roof and partially in open environments. Also you should keep in mind that, for example, the same batch of paving may display slightly different optical properties due to the surrounding fencing and staircase elements, different production methods, and the light. However, the proper overall impression is not compromised.
Within the first three months after laying paved areas should be cleaned only manually. Sweeping machines can be used only late. Sweeping machines with suction effect should be used no more than a year later, to prevent the destruction of unweathered seams.
Normal pavement dirt (e.g., soil, dust) normally can be cleaned with a hard brush or broom, and running water. For persistent dirt it is advisable to use a normal neutral soap detergent (e.g. liquid soap). Steam devices are not recommended because high pressure may leach pavement seam materials and damage surface structures. Strong impurities such as oil, grease, or moss, can be cleaned with a variety of specially tailored chemicals available for sale. They must be used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Paver laying
How to prepare the primer and lay the paving?
Before laying the paving, restrict the edges of the area so that the bricks do not bend to the sides, and to obtain the reference plane later. First, unstable earth layers are removed (e.g., clay soils) until a solid base is uncovered. The roadbed, which must be at least 30-35 cm below the future pavement surface is compacted with a proper vibrator, and poured with at least 25 cm supporting or filtering layer. The most suitable materials are non-freezing granulated substrates such as crushed stone or gravel (granule size: 0/32 or 0/45). The supporting layer has also to be thickened with the vibrator. The roadbed, and the supporting layer should be made with at least 2 - 2.5% incline for rainwater drainage. Driveways and terraces should be inclined away from the house towards the drain.
The next layer is the mat. It is composed of a mixture of sand or crushed sand, and fine gravel (pellet size: 0/5, in case of infiltration paving - fine rubble 1/3 or 2/5). Deck pavement thickness in lose condition must vary between 4 to 5 cm. The layer is not compacted at first; it is only compacted later, together with laid bricks. Thus, the final pavement surface height is achieved only after laying the base layer and the pavement. Therefore, the pavement mat must be laid about 1 cm higher (depending on the base material). It is important to uniformly smoothen the sand / fine rock. For this, you can use a level meter, pulling it over two wooden beams or rods like on the tracks.
After levelling, do not step over the mat, even when laying the blocks. Therefore, the work is done forward from the covered area (if it is a circle, then going from the middle to the sides). When laying the first row of blocks make sure that it is at a straight angle to the limiting area, to avoid unnecessary cutting of blocks. it is helpful to use a gauge or a rope, to check whether tiles do not deviate from the leading line. Boundary blocks have to be laid along with normal blocks. In no way can it be done before or after the area is covered.
Use a rubber hammer and a rope to lay blocks uniformly, in the same height. Check with a rope every 2 m whether the area is still smooth and straight. Seam thickness must always be within 3-5 mm. Take care that the blocks fully settle into the prepared mat. When filling the seams with bonded filler, the gap width of seams should be 8 mm. They must be filled with the shock of washed material, sand and fine gravel. Full load resistance is ensured when the joints are filled with sand to the top. Therefore it is suggested to refill the seams again that after a few days, and this procedure should be repeated several times. Blocks can be cut with a cutting machine or angle grinder. Work on a smooth flat base. Mark the separated part with a pencil and then cut along the marked line.
Side blocks, and small structures for decorative paving, planters are inserted into the cast concrete base, at least 10-15 cm thick (bond depth of 1/4 to 1/3 high). Behind the side foundation is cast for blocks, as the back support. In this way, the pavement is protected against shifting.
Homogeneous colour distribution can be achieved when the blocks are taken immediately from several packages and placed in rows, rather than layers. This is particularly true for pavements with shades, but also recommended for monochrome or grey paving, to have natural appearance. When laying concrete paving blocks, it is necessary to maintain the seam thickness of approximately 3-5 mm (never lay the blocks too tight!). Distance spikes on the sides of the blocks do not automatically set the seam width; it has to be set by the worker. The deck seams are filled with dry sand (or fine rubble for infiltration deck). Cleaned and dry pavement surface then must be compacted by using flat vibrator with PVC sliding device preserving the block surface. To prevent side shifts, the plane has to be surrounded from all sides with curbs, edge bricks or encirclement. After compacting, the area has to be re-filled with water and sand, until the joints are completely full.
Paving stability is also affected by the pattern laid. It is subject to the principle that the pattern laid diagonally to the direction of travel enables better transfer of load across the deck, compared to perpendicular laying. The best load transfer characteristics can be achieved when pavement is laid in the so-called herringbone pattern. Cross-binding should be avoided because the force is transmitted only to the nearest block.
Lattice paving has the same upper part with the lawn seam, like other concrete paving. Therefore, prepare your surface and follow the same procedure as described above. However, after shaking, seams are filled with a mixture made of the upper layer of soil and sand (1:1 mix ratio). Vibrator has to have a PVC sliding device. After shaking, filling has to reach approximately 1 cm below the top of the brick. Then, seams are sown with a suitable lawn seed mixture. Take care that seams are overgrown with grass as soon as possible. Therefore, at the initial stage it is advisable to water the dry pavement during and fertilize the grass.
