Good catch, we always recommend water with compaction no matter the type of gravel used. There was no access to a sufficient water supply for this particular video but in hindsight we should have prioritized it for the sake of proper education, thank you for allowing us an opportunity to explain!
The outside edge is pressed into the soil and stacked up to match the porch height. The porch slab has a completely different foundation that's not tied very well to those outside stones. Even with the adhesive, won't those outside stones shift after a few heavy rains and freeze/thaw cycles therefore distorting the outside perimeter?
Good question, here in our climate we have no freeze thaw that would push this method to its limitations. We do however have a very consistent amount of rainfall in our region and with the porch mostly covered and facing the North, it hasn't seen much of it. This is just a pretty face to help tie in the style of hardscape a little better, we do not think it is making a dramatic difference in the weight of this slab to persuade it to move, settle, or separate any faster than if it was left alone.
We consistently run our little 16" surface cleaning unit on this exact pressure washer @1500PSI and have no issues. There may be different results with different surface washer attachments or pressure washing units.
@@WesternInterlock Thanks for the response. I’m finding other RU-vid channels saying they run 3000 psi just fine without damaging pavers. I’m so confused.
@@JohannGambolputty22 It depends on how old the pavers are. If it's a couple years old or more, you probably could use 3,000 PSI without damaging it anymore than the weathering they already have. If the pavers are fairly new, I would steer away from high pressure as much as possible.
Thanks, great :-). ........ The electrical motor likely has 110VAC (or 220VAC), and when our skin becomes wet our skin conduct electricity better, good enough to get us killed if we're exposed to 110 or 220 VAC. If water on the motor brushes via water via wet hand skin is gonna give enough conductivity to be a dager to us, I don't know. But better keep either the motor or the hands dry :-).
The reason we refrained from that method is the added thickness, and weight. We use a Geo-filter fabric to create something that can separate the concrete paver from direct contact to the concrete surface as condensation between the two can accelerate efflorescence. This is also why we try to steer from certain types of mortars to adhere them to a concrete surface. If this porch was not covered we also would add 3/4"-1" weep holes every 6-8 square feet to reduce condensation which can be dramatically increased by rainfall from above as all concrete surfaces dry through the top, also increasing the risk of efflorescence. These are all preventative measures, not guarantees.
It looks like a previous owner laid the brick patio stones with a wide gap directly on top of the dirt ground. I’ve power washed out the dirt between the bricks. Can I use polymeric sand on top of dirt or would it need a proper sand base first?
Is it possible to lay over a concrete slab like this with bluestone and dry-lay it with stone dust/no mortar? Then fill the gaps with polysand. I have a slab as our back patio and would like to cover it with bluestone. Thanks!
I read online that before using polymeric sand you have to remove the existing sand? Is that so? I also read that if you don’t use it correctly you run the risk of discoloring the pavers? If that’s the case it perhaps I need to use regular fine sand since I’ve never done this application before. With regular sand do you need to remove the existing joint sand? Thanks in advance for your advice
Both of those bits of advice about poly sand are correct. No, you don’t need to remove all of the existing sand if you are using regular sweeping sand.
We have a video about repairing a failing edge. If there are loose stones it means the edge restraint is failing somewhere and allowing the pavers to shift. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TMQY2BwWDH0.htmlsi=_fbPPx-RItI9A9uu
Love the video! Just wondering, are you able to still follow the same process but using limestone screening instead of gravel? My paver's have sunk a lot (around 3 inches), and I noticed that it originally had limestone screening underneath.
@@WesternInterlock I took another look outside and it seems I misunderstood what was being used for my pavers. It was limestone gravel, not screenings (the rocks were really small since the probably broke down over the years). Either way, thanks for response!
What to do for existing paver edging - garden beds/house landscaping, and tree rings? The grass creeps in between the pavers and beyond. Seems like there isn't a good solution for this that goes underground and stops grass runners.
Since most edge restraint options do not go to the top of the paving stone, masking tape adhered along the exposed edge has been used to dam up a polymeric sand during the activation process. Then simply removed when the sand has cured. The polymeric sands out there today greatly reduce weeds, moss, and even grass from growing into the joints and cracks. At the very least, it will be easier to remove them in the case they do grow because of the strength it provides as opposed to standard joint sand options.
In the "sailor" orientation or ran lengthwise, you will be able to easily cut the two pieces at a 45° angle to meet at a 90° corner. If they are in "soldier" orientation or ran widthwise, you will have to cut two smaller pieces at 45° and meet together with a 3"x3" hole at the opposite corner in which you would cut two 3" 45° miter pieces to pair together (making a square) and fill that whole. All very similar to the Holland Stone, but with the different length to width ratio, the measurements will be different.
We prefer "HPB" or "High Performance Bedding". But if that isn't available in your area, ASTM c33 or "Washed River Sand" is a great option on top of a dense graded aggregate base. We also recommend a 2% slope on a standard paver project.
No, we do not recommend tamping the bedding layer. If sand is used for the bedding layer, when the stones are compacted after laying, the sand works up into the joints from below. If the sand is compacted, it can’t work into the joint well.
How permeable is the narrow-joint polymer sand option? I live in the CO mountains and get LOTS of snow (over 300")... when it melts I don't want it pooling on top of the pavers, especially during freeze/thaw cycles which invite ice build up. Also, do all of the polymer sand options require that the pavers be "leaf blower-ed" prior to watering down the polymer sand?
Polymeric sand isn’t considered permeable at all and yes, we always recommend blowing off all the polymeric sand dust before activating the sand to prevent hazing.
