[dayhiker]

I laid about 600 sf of flagstone patio under my deck. My joints vary from 1" to 4". I read here that Gator Sand is the way to go. I called the local place that sells it and they said that coverage was 20-30 sf of joint area based on 1"-2" deep joints. I said that if I had 90% coverage of stone then that would mean I have about 60sf of joints which would be about 3 bags at 25sf/bag. I bought 4 bags @ $30, I should be good. A single bag only covered maybe 25sf of flag stone area NOT joint area. If it gets 25sf per bag then the gator sand is 30/25 = $1.20/sf.

My questions are:

1. What am I missing? Is it really 25sf of flag area as opposed to joint area. It would seem so.

2. How thin can I place the gator sand? I have a good pit of regular sand left. I'm considering placing the regular sand up to about 1/2" or so below the top of flag and then just placing 1/2" of gator to make it go further. This area does get wet.

3. Are there other materails that would be more cost effective? The sand below the stone seems to act as a blotter to hold water so that it can seep into the ground below, ie, no standing water. The only issues I've had with the unfilled joints is sand splashing up on the stones. Is a decomposed granite a better option?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[bad63lac]

In my experience, coverage #'s are always in relation to finished surface area, not the actual joints they are filling but these numbers vary greatly based on the width & depth of the joints as well as the frequency of joints.


About adding the poly sand on top of half filled joints, read the instructions. It should tell you whether you can do it or not. Or have instructions about using it on an existing jointed patio. It will tell you whether you need to remove all the old sand or only half.