by Dwayne Regehr
Many once-beautiful patios have transformed into weedy eyesores over the years. Fine sand employed to fill the joints between pavers and stones tends to blow away with wind and washed away by rain. Once that sand disappears, dirt moves in. Weeds love unoccupied dirt. And so do insects: a sand and dirt mixture makes for an attractive habitat for ants.
Polymeric sand all but eliminates this problem. Polymeric sand, often called poly-sand, is a fine sand mixed with a powdered-epoxy adhesive. When we're building your patio, we sweep and vibrate Polymeric sand into the joints, just as we would with regular sand, but after blowing the patio surface clean, we sprinkle the entire surface with water. Water activates the epoxy adhesive, cementing the sand into place, a lot like mortar does between bricks.
There are different formulations of poly-sand for pavers with narrow joints and pavers with wide joints. It's available in a range of colors too.
With the sand cemented in place, repairs and changes are a little more difficult, but it's a good trade-off for a low-maintenance surface that can be cleaned with a hose or even a pressure washer without a worry.
Questions? Send us an email at dwayne@earthworkslandscaping.ca
★★★★★
These guys are fantastic. So professional. We got them in to build us a patio about 8 years ago, and they were so good I would never use anyone else. We had them back this summer to do anotherRead more … walkway job and they were just as good. The quality of the work is perfect.... beautiful. Their work is so good that the company who built our garage asked for their contact info so they could work with Earthworks in the future. They are very quick, efficient, and polite as well. I highly recommend them.
★★★★★
We heard about this company and the good work they do from a family member. We subsequently hired them to do a large interlocking brick patio and raised stone planter at the rear of our house. TheRead more … patio was large, with an intricate design. I was extremely impressed with their work, right from protecting our lawn from damage to the excellent work they did on the patio and planter. The crew was very pleasant and worked hard in very hot weather. We have already had many compliments on our new patio and planter and we will be hiring them to do a stone planter in our front yard next year. Very professional and service oriented, which is a nice trait in this day and age!
★★★★★
We had many contractors come to give estimates and we chose Earthworks. Dwayne's estimate on when he could do the project was incredible and he charged us what he quoted. We had done some changesRead more … after the initial meeting and within 24 hours we had a revised estimate sent to us for review and he made additional suggestions to us for consideration. He actually was able to start before the estimated date and we couldn't be happier with our new backyard space. I was most impressed when emailing questions that he would answer them very quickly. Not only was the workmanship excellent but the professionalism in returning questions and offering alternative solutions exceeded our expectations!!!!
★★★★★
On time, on budget as promised. Dwayne and his crew worked hard and left nothing behind. The grass looks great, the deck is amazing. We tested it this weekend with a group of family members,Read more … nobody fell through!