[mklawz]

I just joined this forum hoping I can get some help. I'm having a nightmare with my paver patio...

A buddy of mine and I laid my paver patio 2 summers ago, we used polymeric sand between the joints. We did a terrible job applying this stuff as a fine dust adhered to the surface and made the bricks lose their color.

2 years goes by and it turns out we did a terrible job with the base as well, as it's been sinking and becoming unlevel. So just a few days ago I hire some laborers to come in and tear it all up, redo the base, and get the pavers back down (yes we scraped the polymer sand off every single brick!). Anyway the patio is much better, it's level, sturdy, nice.

But now being gunshy about the polymeric sand, I told the guys not to use it and just use regular sand in the joints. This has become a pain in the *ss as well. We spread sand all over the surface, swept it in, and used a plate compacter as well. But the sand never seems to fill it all in, and keeps washing out when I try to clean the fine dust off my pavers and bring back the color. This seems like a never ending cycle and so I'm leaning back towards using the polymeric sand!!

My questions are: WHAT WOULD YOU DO? And, HOW WOULD YOU DO IT?

Meaning, should I go with the polymeric sand again? And if so, how do I go about getting all this regular sand out of the joints and the dust off my pavers to bring back the color? This whole thing is sooo frustrating! My next house I'm just putting down a big concrete slab!

Thanks, hope I didn't ramble too much.

[zullo-design]

power washer to get the regular sand out and use the bonding sand, just do it right this time, sweep it in and blow the excess off then apply a fine mist of water a couple of time and don't let it puddle up.

[Stonehenge]

If you still have poly sand on the tops of the pavers, try vinegar to take it off. But yeah, use the poly sand - just learn from your first experience.

[mklawz]

thanks!

ok... precisely, how do you apply the polymeric sand? What I mean is, last time I did it I was told I swept "too much" and the dust worked itself into the pores of the pavers and I never got it out. (which seems to be the same issue I'm currently having with the regular sand!). But it seems I need to sweep forever to get rid of all the sand.

Do I need a compactor to get the sand down in the joints? Or will sweeping and blowing suffice?

Obviously I really dont have a clue what I'm doing and getting very frustrating trying to do things myself... Thanks again.

[zullo-design]

We sweep, then blow off the dust then apply small amounts of water maybe 1-2 times. Also keeping the sand a it below the top of the joints helps too.

[engine7design]

Ugh what a pain. I bet I'll be doing the same thing next summer, hiring some pros to come in and fix my mess. What did you do wrong on your base?

[natural12]

Are you using clay brick or concrete pavers? If brick, I have had a problem in the past using polymeric sand with brick. It tends to penetrate the pours of the brick and stains it. The case where I had the problem I used a cheaper product so that may have been part of the problem. We had to power wash the brick and decided not to try using it again - we went with traditional sand.

Wondering if anyone else had any trouble using polymeric sand with clay brick.

[AZTLANLC]

Use a plate compactor to work the sand into the joints also there is a special formulated sealer from unilock that seal the pavers and at the same time bonds the regular sand together.