I pressure washed my paver walkway to remove dirt buildup on the pavers and remove dirt and moss that grew in the joints. Now I have to sand the joints again. I can either use regular paver sand or polymeric sand. Polymeric sand is about 7 times more expensive than regular paver sand. Is it worth the extra expense?
PSU
We had pavers done, maybe 4 or 5 years ago, on the front walkways, and two driveways… Polymeric was used everywhere, no sealer, and over the years the tiniest little weeds of mosses have fought their way to get in, survive in even those sanded joints… I’ve used anything from a propane or Mapp gas errday burner torch to occasional RoundUp , but they still persist… With our drought situation, my pressure washer hasn’t been run for at least that 5 years, or longer, so no disturbance there… I used to pressure wash the older concrete RV pad, walkways, sidewalk before that, peeling away the stains, molds and tiny weeds that find ant crack to survive in, a fun thing to do on a bright sunny day… But no more until we see relief from the drought…
I don’t mind the little critters, but a little spray Roundup wipes 'em out as well as spot hits on weed that try to get into the yard’s landscaping of drought tolerant plants, river rock ground cover…
I had maybe a half sack of polymeric sand, I used it a few places later around the yard, but never remanded the whole area since the original work is still in great shape… No idea what it cost as it was, like nearly a pallet of pavers, were leftovers from that project… But overall, I liked the product, and if/when I did pressure was, I’d use, have to go out and buy some nice fresh polymeric sand… Better yet, have my gut come back and handle it… I see some odd lifting where we’d taken out tree root that have somehow maybe come back, that I’d like him to look at…
Sometimes we just have to pay the price, everything has risen in price with fuel/transportation costs rising…
In the end, maybe a coin flip, we have mild winters, no ice/snow, so YMMV…
weco
I did a 12 x 25 ft patio with bricks and used polymeric sand as well as sealer. That’s been ten years ago.
Does it eliminate all vegetation growth in the joints? Absolutely NOT, but it certainly reduces the amount. I did two 18" square step pads next to the patio and did not have enough poly sand to do them. They have had significantly more growth in them and some brick shifting. Granted, much smaller area, less general support but still, clearly a difference. My experience is that maintenance seems generally easier and simpler for the poly sand. The other big reason for poly is better stability in the pavers/bricks over time, which I think there has been.
I am having some sand loss, not severe, but have thought I might need to redo it in the next few years. Already have decided that I will use poly sand again. But my area is smaller and I feel it is financially/effort-over-time cost efficient.
Lakedog
I did two patios under our back deck with pavers, drainage rock, and sand a few years ago, and not knowing any better I used regular old playground sand or whatever it is they sell at Lowe’s.
Even without landscape fabric I have very few weeds, easily handled with a couple squirts of RoundUp, and while the sand has “sunk” I will probably give it a topping in a couple years with the same cheap stuff. Of course there isn’t a lot of sunlight under the deck, but there is some; I don’t know if the sand chokes them out or what, but so far so good.
When we had our pavers installed, they gave us the option of elastomeric sand (I assume that is the same thing). More expensive. But they indicated that any future repairs would be more difficult because that stuff sets like mortar. The then pointed me to the bumper on his pickup truck and said “I spilled a bit, and can’t get it off”. It was only a few inches in size, but it was hard.
So we got regular sand. Yes, weeds do grow in the spaces. Just have to go around occasionally and kill them. Though we likely get a lot less rain than you do. Probably more of an issue where you are.
You can minimize weed problems by putting plastic sheeting under your pavers. Then weeds can’t have strong roots and are easy to pull.
The weeds I see are jut little tiny things, 1/8" max high and maybe spread out to a silver dollar size at most. Rather interesting to see the strange varieties, same with the mosses, they are small, but when hit by the flamethrower propane weed torch, they flash, so some very fine extensions . All are easily wiped off by either the torch, or Roundup. What do notice, late night wanderers, snails, are happily munching away on the mosses… Like a little snail garden… Funny stuff…
You can minimize weed problems by putting plastic sheeting under your pavers. Then weeds can’t have strong roots and are easy to pull.
Let me clarify, I am referring to only having small little weeds, not big thick thistles, horsetail or blackberries. Not even dandelions. Little chickweed stuff that is trivial, but still has to be occasionally dealt with. And those seeds take root in any tiny crack or hint of dirt. The kind of stuff you find trying to grow in boulders. Plastic sheeting helps deal with the big boy weeds. I used heavy duty landscape fabric over my 5/8’s minus packed aggregate base to allow moisture passage. I didn’t want any pooling of any water and freezing risk. Ice can exert an incredible amount of force.
I still like the stability with poly. But I don’t think you can go wrong with either. Sounds like you have established bricks/pavers so probably fine either way with stability.
Good luck with what ever you go with.
Lakedog
The pavers here are the topping over ground/weed cloth, then anywhere from 12-18 inches of road base, layered, pack before the final sand bedding for the pavers, a concrete rim with rebar secures all the edgings no at the sidewalk of the foundation, so no big weeds, some are almost microscopic…
For my money, I’ll take polymeric every time. Broomed into cracks and and lightly misted with water, it sets up, so it’s a nice obstacle to stuff taking root. It won’t stop weeds forever, but it holds up a lot longer than sand.
Personally, I would not put plastic sheeting under pavers, but I live in a climate that gets about 40" of rainfall every year. YMMV…
Good luck with what ever you go with.
It was just an academic question to see what others use. I already knew I was using the regular paver sand before I asked. I’m selling this house in a few weeks. I may have made a different decision if I was staying.
PSU
I know this is a “done deal” and was even as PSU wrote it, but thought I’d add a small tidbit just for general information.
I mentioned already about our patio at our lake house that I polymer sanded 10 years ago. About two years later, I also laid a circle of pavers and a firepit, plain sanded. I just this week pressure washed both. While there are a few small, shallow weeds in the polymer sanded patio, the fire pit was an amazing mass of inter-twining small roots and growth. Tap roots from weeds even twisted around pavers and a thousand small roots, apparently from a tree (there are similar cedars near the patio) infiltrated. Not visible or obvious from above, but clearly growing for some time and likely to be a major problem down the road if not dealt with. The cleaning of the firepit area took 4-5 times as long, despite being a third the size.
My time is worth something, I have resanded with polymer sand, both. Although the patio only took a fraction of the original amount of polymer sand. I’m now convinced, poly it is. Although, I totally agree with PSU, if selling the place in the next couple years, use regular sand. For what it’s worth.
Best wishes,
Lakedog