First go at paving

rab1 · Post: # 67678Post **rab1** Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:36 pm

You`ll be glad you done.

Heed · Post: # 67686Post **Heed** Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:43 am

DNgroundworks wrote:Is it jointed yet?

Not yet. I'm waiting for a very dry day to get that done. I'm putting buff jointing in.

rab1 · Post: # 67717Post **rab1** Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:10 pm

I`ve got the same slabs as you Heed and a brown coloured joint looks good.

Heed · Post: # 67809Post **Heed** Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:46 am

rab1 wrote:I`ve got the same slabs as you Heed and a brown coloured joint looks good.

I was wondering whether to go for brown. I'm now thinking that buff might be a bit bright. I'll have a word with the boss (wife) and see what the executive decision is!

Heed · Post: # 67850Post **Heed** Thu Sep 01, 2011 6:05 pm

Well I've gone for buff pointing and it looks really good. I'll post some images once the plants and everything are in.

Heed · Post: # 67950Post **Heed** Mon Sep 05, 2011 11:53 am

rab1 wrote:Why not buy a cheap pointing gun from screw-fix and mix a 3-1 mix not forgetting to add plastiser and point that way?.

Hands up. I was lazy and tried geofix. It's terrible. It seems to have expanded slightly in the gaps when it rained (2 days after using it) and has started to 'climb' out of some of the joints.

This will be getting jetwashed out and I'm going to order a pointing gun and do it properly.

Rab mentioned using a 3-1 mix for pointing with plasticiser. Where would I get plasticiser from? And I'm assuming the 3-1 is 3 sand to 1 cement. Would that be a good assumption?

Mon Sep 05, 2011 12:19 pm

Yes 3 sand to 1 cement

Builders merchants sell it and DIY sheds and now to start a huge argument about structuralintegrity of mortar etc you can use fairy liquid as a plasticer.

Yes it's not recommended now adays but it's not going to matter on this patio it's not a structural element. Sits back and awaits the retorts :p

Carberry · Post: # 67954Post **Carberry** Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:00 pm

GB_Groundworks wrote:Yes 3 sand to 1 cement

Builders merchants sell it and DIY sheds and now to start a huge argument about structuralintegrity of mortar etc you can use fairy liquid as a plasticer.

Yes it's not recommended now adays but it's not going to matter on this patio it's not a structural element. Sits back and awaits the retorts :p

It costs near enough the same for a 5L bottle of plasticiser as it does for a bottle of fairy liquid. I would use fairy liquid in a mix going underneath a slab, because of the amount of mortar that goes down, but never for pointing.

Heed · Post: # 67956Post **Heed** Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:41 pm

I certainly don't mind buying plasticiser but I'm not sure where to get it from. Is it something that a normal builders merchants will have in stock? And do I simply ask for plasticiser or do I need something specific?

Massive thanks for the info fellas. Without this site and your help I'd be much poorer!

Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:58 pm

it'll be on the shelf mortar plasticer in 5l tubs or diy sheds sell it, i saw it in bq today but yeah if you are doing lots and if no rush then get the proper stuff

Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:25 pm

why would you need fairy in a bedding mix?
plenty of SBR does the trick
LLL

DNgroundworks · Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:33 pm

Plenty of SBR = Â£Â£!

darrenba · Post: # 67967Post **darrenba** Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:58 pm

Heed wrote:I certainly don't mind buying plasticiser but I'm not sure where to get it from.

Either Toolstation or Screwfix stock it if there is one local to you.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop....0

http://www.screwfix.com/p....31

rab1 · Post: # 67972Post **rab1** Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:31 pm

You can use either but you will need one or the other for the pointing gun to work (just clogs with sand and cement). Then you can use a pointing tool or a piece of old hose to level/shape the joint.

Carberry · Post: # 67975Post **Carberry** Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:35 pm

lutonlagerlout wrote:why would you need fairy in a bedding mix?
plenty of SBR does the trick
LLL

Just saying that to illustrate that I wouldn't use it in pointing because there isn't enough mortar.
I would only use fairy liquid in a bedding mix if I had run out of plasticiser or SBR and had 1 more slab to lay or something.