Recommended jointing - Mortar or dry sand joints

[Paddy O'Furniture]

Hi. I'm about to lay 44sqm of Bradstone textured buff 450x450 flags. It seems this size and type of flag can be laid with either dry sand (block paver type) joints or mortar joints. Bradstone's website recommends laying them 'butted' ie dry sand. They will be laid on a patio for foot traffic only and I'd like to achieve the most durable low maintenance result. What would your recommendation be?

Thanks

[lutonlagerlout]

i prefer a mortar joint but it can get messy with these flags
LLL

[Tony McC]

If you choose dry sand, you need a 2-5mm joint. Flags should NEVER be laid in direct contact with adjacent units.

As LLL says, mortar can get messy, but one of the pre-mixed polymerics could be used without fear of staining.

Dry sand joints should not be power washed and may require a small amount of maintenance each year, whereas a polymeric joint (assuming a quality product has been used) would withstand occasional power washing and require less maintenance overall.

[Paddy O'Furniture]

Thanks for the good advice. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to all that pointing, so what you suggest sounds just the job. Just one more question. I'm laying on 10:1 dry mix mortar, do I still need to butter the flag edges? or just lay them with empty 10 mil gaps before brushing in the polymeric.

Cheers

[GB_Groundworks]

if using a poly based jointing compound such as rompox you just lay the flag on your bed and then fill with the compound and then strike it so it fills the joint and refill upto level and sweep excess off.