Brick paver- joint sealer questions

[Geo's66]

Guys, have you had any success with any "joint sealer" products? Also, paver sealer themselves? I'm in northern midwest and brutal winters might crack any joint sealer I'm thinking? Spending last 2 days pressure washing mold/Dirt out of my patio and wondering any wild success products out there. Thanks

 

[sixty4]

Just finished this side walk on side of my garage. I used a polymeric sand that I got at stone supplier. Let me go check what brand it was.



TechniSeal is the brand I used.

 

[Kaizen]

yup use polymeric sand. expensive per bag but goes a long way. did the same as you 3 years ago. washed all the stone dust out with a pressure washer. you can use a sealer which you just spray on with a garden sprayer before the poly. you'd have to let it dry totally so a day in the sun. but it only lasts a year or so and you will have to redo it.
that poly sand is the best thing ever. virtually eliminates weeds and ants. hard like concrete but flexes with the patio in winter. if you have to eat ramen noodles for a month get this stuff!
follow instructions. patio cannot be at all wet and you need a leaf blower to blow off dust before you wet it down.

 

[txvwnut]

I've had good luck with concrete sand mix, but I am in Texas and our winters aren't as brutal as what you guys get. I used for the base as well as the grout between the pavers, this was used for a driveway approach and driven over daily.

 

[St-rider]

+1 on polymeric sand. Good adjustable hose nozzle will help. The product i used called for a fine mist of water.

 

[bigfunwmu]

Polysand FTW. If you currently have regular sand in your joints, a littke work with a good hose nozzle or pressure washer can wash out the top inch or so to make room for the poly. Let it fully dry before you sweep in the poly sand though, or the top of your blocks will look like it has a layer of snot covering it!

Polysand also resists ants making their home between the blocks pretty well too.

 

[Geo's66]

Thanks guys- it's a large patio and blowing that mold out really smells like a bad pond! I'll get the polymeric. Any better than the rest in your opinion?

 

[Greasymofo]

I used to work for Arlington pavers and we did a lot of huge jobs. We would get some sand and some concrete sand mix in a bag and mix it up and put it on top and brush into the cracks, compact/ vibrate it in and then another layer of sand, brush it in. And the brush off all the extrash sand/ concrete mix.. And then use a pump sprayer and spray all the cracks.. And that's what we did

 

[Radix2]

Thanks guys- it's a large patio and blowing that mold out really smells like a bad pond! I'll get the polymeric. Any better than the rest in your opinion?

If it is so bad as to be smelly, the problem sounds more like poor drainage - is the anything you can do to improve run-off (gutter extensions, perimeter drains, etc) or get more sun and air to it ( remove trees, shrubs,etc.) The poly sands are good, but won't stop moss, mold and algae.

 

[Geo's66]

Not really, the patio has mortored in stone surrounding walls with 3 open areas(besides door to house) to access patio. I'm wondering if after 15 years, if I should drill some holes in the base of the walls to add drainage? But then, I'm assuming a lot of sand loss/drawing through same holes?