Flagstones flaking

[ElectronicFur]

We have old well worn flagstones. Quite uneven in places. We've only vacuumed them, occasionally washed them with water. And when we moved in we washed them with Ecover floor soap which contains linseed oil.

But they keep flaking and bits are chipping off. Should we put something like linseed oil on them to stop them flaking? Or something else?

 

[Easrow]

Good evening.
We have uncovered blue lias flags in our house. They were in terrible condition and very flakey. Any original wear came off with the concrete on top. As it is a lime stone it is made up of layers and you will probably find it will always flake, that is until you end up with a nice smooth walked on bit in 100 years or so. We opted to smooth them off as they were so bad, which makes it much nicer under foot and so much easier to clean. Even the mop runs over like it was flat surface. This is a horrible job to do but it has come out lovely. It now follows the undulations, and has smoothed off edges of any flaking areas. They are still laid on the soil below, with lime pointing and are only washed an olive oil soap. They now hardly flake and look lovely.

 

[ElectronicFur]

Thanks Easrow, only just spotted your reply.

I'm not sure they'll end up smooth in 100 years or so, as ours weren't covered and are from the 1820's, and clearly haven't ended up like that

How did you smooth off your flagstones?

 

[a twig]

I used a vanity disc on an angle grinder to tidy up a few flagstones that were being recycled into a hearth for our fireplace - worked very well

Messy though, masks, eye protection, and lots of vacuuming afterwards