Moss and weeds in paving joints

[paul243]

Hi
Forgive me if this is not new but I have weeds and moss growing in the joints of my block paved drive.What weedkiller should I use that will kill the weeds AND moss prior to pressure washing and re-filling the joints without staining the pavers.
Thanks

[topgrafter2007]

ive found that a strong weedkiller is good but takes ages to work. ive used a heat gun before and its very quick and cheap. re sand your joints with kiln sand. if you want to make it more effective and your drive nicer you could apply a coat of resin sealer?? but beware coz it effectively seals your drive and wont allow water to drain thru the joints! and if the drive has any low spots or ruts then you could get standing water! not many weeds though! :laugh:

[msh paving]

just a quick point topgrafter,once block paving is laid ,kilndry sanded and fully compacted it is water tight
water does does not soak through the joints that's why puddles form in low spots, this is the reason behind SUDS and permeable paving

Getting back to the original post, if its not to big area its just as easy to scratch the weeds out with a old scredriver or something similar then resand ,if you keep surface grime and mud off the driveway with a good brushing weeds wont be a problem as they grow for the top down, lots of people think that weeds come from the bottom up but this is not the case most weed seeds land from birds and bird poo and self seeding weeds growing close buy

the best to kill moss it jayes fluid, but again if its kept clean should not grow for weedkiller you wont go far wrong with pathclear from a good garden centre

i would not recomend sealer for this case MSH

[paul243]

Thanks for replies, scraping out each weed and moss would take weeks! it's a big area.Is there a product that will kill both weeds and moss without staining the pavers? sodium chloride any use?

[msh paving]

the weedkillar as i just stated PATHCLEAR from any garden centre

sodium chloride will do but no as good a pathclear


weedkiller wont stain MSH

[Tony McC]

I regularly recommend Sodium Chlorate and I know from experience that, at this time of year, it takes 2-4 days to kill the weeds. How you then remove the dead weeds is up to you: a stiff brush will remove some, but those with an extensive root system will hang on despite being as dead as a doornail and may need to be persuaded using a hoe or similar.

[Asbury]

Thanks for replies, scraping out each weed and moss would take weeks! it's a big area.

You could employ a bloody lazy teenager to do it, and give him a baseball cap per day for payment.

[worldofpaving]

A good sealer would prevent seeding of the sand joints that causes this problem as well as enhancing the colour of your paving and protecting the surface.

The down side is that it would need "refreshing" every 18 to 24 months (all of the sealer across a whole area would never wear off completely) but you can get this done and the joints resanded for about £150 for an average drive.

WOP

[msh paving]

WOP have you ever bought resiblock? at near as £100+vat for 25 litres,resiblock is very hard to recoat, and this is the product most national builders merchants stock,

this time off year you stand little chance off sealing a drive due to air temp and moisture on blocks,if you seal when damp the blocks will turn white and are impossible to return to proper colour, MSH

[paul243]

I regularly recommend Sodium Chlorate and I know from experience that, at this time of year, it takes 2-4 days to kill the weeds. How you then remove the dead weeds is up to you: a stiff brush will remove some, but those with an extensive root system will hang on despite being as dead as a doornail and may need to be persuaded using a hoe or similar.

Will sodium chlorate kill the moss in the joints or should I simply blast it out and re sand?

[worldofpaving]

Hi MSH, yup, the points you make are absolutely correct. Applying any sort of sealer in damp conditions is a no-no and this is, of course, a problem in the UK.

Polyurethanes such as Resiblock Superior are very durable but on the minus side they don't have good intercoat adhesion and are very moisture intolerant as well as, as you say, being hard to remove.

There are some very good acrylics available that are touher than they used to be and are more user friendly but tend not to be available in BM's so on balance I can see why you prefer to give it a miss!

[RAPressureWashing]

Paul,
Just get the paving profesionally cleaned then you should have no problems with weeds etc, leaving you to seal it once we have better weather etc.

[RAPressureWashing]

the best to kill moss it jayes fluid.

Sorry have to disagree with that one.

[Amogen]

the best to kill moss it jayes fluid.

Sorry have to disagree with that one.

Me Too.

I have been in the business for many years now and some of my customers have used Jayes fluid to little or no effect.

As said above, if the driveway is proffesionally cleaned and maintained correctly, there should be no return of weeds at all.