Quickest way to renew patio pointing?

TheCyclingProgrammer

The patio we inherited was a bit neglected. I recently pressure washed it which cleaned it up some what, apart from the black lichen, but there's pretty much no mortar between the slabs at all - the odd spot here and there but its mostly gone. There's plenty of dirt though, weeds (though most came out with the pressure washer) and a few loose slabs.

I'm not looking for any long term solution as we'll probably get rid of the patio in the next year or two when we re-landscape the garden. So I'm just looking for something low cost and easy that will make it last a bit longer.

I've already treated the weeds with weedkiller and have started scraping out those that remain and clearing out the gaps between the slabs. I intend to lift the loose slabs and re-seat them on a fresh bed of mortar (can I use any mortar, I have some general purpose repair mortar?).

What's the best thing to re-joint them? I was looking at this polymeric stuff that Wickes sells where you just brush it in like sand and then spray it with water and it sets:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Dansand-No-Weed-Polymeric-Block-Paving-Joint-Fix/p/131900

So that's one option. I know there's also ones that you don't wet and they just air dry.

What would people recommend?

wrightk

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

The patio we inherited was a bit neglected. I recently pressure washed it which cleaned it up some what, apart from the black lichen, but there's pretty much no mortar between the slabs at all - the odd spot here and there but its mostly gone. There's plenty of dirt though, weeds (though most came out with the pressure washer) and a few loose slabs.

I'm not looking for any long term solution as we'll probably get rid of the patio in the next year or two when we re-landscape the garden. So I'm just looking for something low cost and easy that will make it last a bit longer.

I've already treated the weeds with weedkiller and have started scraping out those that remain and clearing out the gaps between the slabs. I intend to lift the loose slabs and re-seat them on a fresh bed of mortar (can I use any mortar, I have some general purpose repair mortar?).

What's the best thing to re-joint them? I was looking at this polymeric stuff that Wickes sells where you just brush it in like sand and then spray it with water and it sets:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Dansand-No-Weed-Polymeric-Block-Paving-Joint-Fix/p/131900

So that's one option. I know there's also ones that you don't wet and they just air dry.

What would people recommend?

depends how long you want it to last. by the sounds of it not long and if its in a state i would just prepare a 3 to 1 sharp sand to cement mix and brush it in. pack it down with a brick pointing tool and spray with water

dboswell

even sand brushed in will be ok for a while

JEN22

I used a resin and its great


you just brush it in

TheCyclingProgrammer

Thanks all, I ordered three bags of the stuff from Wickes. I made a start clearing out the rubbish and remains of the old mortar from the slabs yesterday, what a tedious job.

JEN22

What did you order

TheCyclingProgrammer

JEN22 wrote: »

What did you order

The stuff I mentioned in my first post:
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Dansand-No-Weed-Polymeric-Block-Paving-Joint-Fix/p/131900

You brush it in like sand, spray it with water and it sets (but remains flexible).

I'm not sure how it will cope with some of the wider gaps in parts of our patio (they seem to range from 0mm - 15mm but probably around 3mm mostly). But I'm sure it will do a good enough job to last a year or two.

I'll post a few photos when its done.

dominoman

That looks like good stuff. Let us know how you get on. I need to do the same to replace all the cracked joints on my crazy paving

TheCyclingProgrammer

dominoman wrote: »

That looks like good stuff. Let us know how you get on. I need to do the same to replace all the cracked joints on my crazy paving

Will do. They do advise for best results going over with a surface vibrator but I'm just going to go with the old whack the flags with a rubber mallet approach.

prop

Hi its 1 year since you used this dansand, can I ask if it worked at keeping out the weeds, I am thinking of using it on my block paved drive?
Thanks
Paul

TheCyclingProgrammer

Nope, it was pretty useless on the patio. The weeds still came back and it didn't keep the ants out either. Now, part of the problem might be that our patio slabs are on mortar spots, not a full bed so there's lots of gaps below the slabs which made it hard to get the joint size properly full.

I had some left so I did use some on our block paved driveway after pressure washing it a few weeks ago so I will see how that goes. I'm not expecting perfect results as I didn't completely remove all the existing jointing sand.

In the meantime, we have come up with a foolproof solution for the patio - we are having the whole lot (the whole garden in fact) dug up and re-landscaped and we will be using porcelain paving on a full bed with resin jointing compound. Should be maintenance free.