Easipoint - Explaination

[Thepinkpavingco]

I would like to ask some questions regarding easipoint.
Apologies in advance if this has already been posted.
1 does it require mixing

2 how is it packaged is it a cartridge that goes into the gun

3 Why is it better than making your own

4 is it all building sand, and how strong is it

5 and finally has anyone revisited a job where it has been used how does it bear up

If anyone has any pics of this stuff I'd like to see them before during or after the process many thanks
Danny.

[mickg]

1 does it require mixing
yes its a fine powder in a sealed bag and similar to mixing tiles adhesive, the details are on the bag

2 how is it packaged is it a cartridge that goes into the gun
yes, the gun you can buy from most builders merchants will do the same job and for half ther price of the easipoint gun

3 Why is it better than making your own
because the colour is exactly the same with every bag so you don't get any colour variation

4 is it all building sand, and how strong is it
its not building sand. see number 1

5 and finally has anyone revisited a job where it has been used how does it bear up
yes called back after 12 months and it bears up well

6 If anyone has any pics of this stuff I'd like to see them before during or after the process many thanks
I will try and find one tommorrow

[Brucieboy]

mick - with regard to 4. I believe Easipoint contains a blend of fine silica sands to BS EN 13139 (Aggregates for mortar). This is in addition to CEMI (Portland cement), various admixtures and pigment.

[Thepinkpavingco]

Thanks mick
Do you tend to now price every job to include the easypoint method
And do you buy it all in bulk to get a better price per unit.
As I have mentioned before I always use a 3:1 mix of plastering sand + plasticiser through the "pointmaster" gun and this seems to work well and really quick only drawback is that it dries nearly white I like the idea of offering different shades of pointing but does it warrant the bigger price when it does the same as I'm doing now.
Thanks again dan.

[mickg]

to be honest bruce all i do is knife the bag and mix it with the correct amount of water as per the instructions, you are a lot more up to speed with the mixture of whats in the bag

[Carberry]

2 how is it packaged is it a cartridge that goes into the gun

The packaging is crap. For the price it should come in plastic.

[Brucieboy]

For info, I'm quite sure that the combination of blended silica sands and special admixtures (probably SBR or high performance water reducer with other whammies to reduce bleed and make it thixotropic) gives Easipoint the edge over hand mixed mortar.

One of the problems with bog standard building sands (most of which are silica based) is that they tend to be near single size particles leading to high voids - typically 35 to 40%. If all the particles were spheres and identical in size it would be about 44%. The voids have to be filled with something - i.e. cement (and lime where required). For a good quality mortar, ithe cement:building sand ratio is normally 1:3 by volume - note, most common cement:lime mortars also follow this ratio, i.e. 1:1:6, 1:2:9 by volume.

However, this is probably not enough to completely fill the voids with some sands leading to porosity - a route for water and soluble salts, i.e. efflorescence. This is where the fine blended sands used by Easipoint come into their own. They are no doubt very well graded comprising a good distribution of different sizes (or they can be bought off the shelf in different sizes if necessary from people like David Ball Group and blended accordingly - but they're expensive). Being well graded reduces the voids content and associated problems.

The product is further enhanced by admixtures, exactly which ones and at what dosages, are quite rightly trade secrets. The technology involved in researching and producing these products is not cheap - hence the cost. Everything is weighed precisely so you should get the same performance bag after bag. Hope this helps.

[lutonlagerlout]

chronium is 1 of the mixtures i noticed on an easipoint bag
the thing i like about it is that the next day its gone off rock hard
I have used it on patios and brickwork and to date hasnt failed me
the drawbacks
shite paper bag
if you are a trowelful short you have to open another bag
and cost @£25 a bag roughly
I have got some photies but i cannot post them on a public forum so i will pm them to you dan pink

oh and 2 blokes can point approx 70m2 in a day with easipoint
LLL

[Brucieboy]

LLL - the chromium on the bag refers to chromium 6 (or VI). It's a health and safety warning because it's contained in very small proportions in the cement (the exact amount is limited to 2 parts per million) and is a known nasty potentially causing allergic contact dermatitis. Reducing agents are used to lower the amount of chromium 6 but these wear off after time which is why there is usually a time limit for use.

[London Stone Paving]

The packaging is poor. At any time we have got about 10-15 pallets of this stuff in stock and we lose a lot through damaged bags. We have been asking them for a while to change to plastic but they are not interested. I dont understand that you can get plastic bags with a £3 bag of cement but not with a £25 bag of easipoint.

thats my only complaint, otherwise its a fantastic product which we have been using for a couple of years now with no negative feedback from our customers

[Thepinkpavingco]

London stone do you supply the durgun and how much is delivery to an rm postcodes

[Carberry]

I went back to a patio I did a couple of years ago. Customer had sold the house and moved back to Ireland. New owner of the house was parking their 4WD on the sandstone patio (autum brown from London Stone with Easipoint). No damage done to the patio.

[London Stone Paving]

London stone do you supply the durgun and how much is delivery to an rm postcodes

Dan

We do supply the Durgun gun. Regarding delivery to RM. Delivery for a gun is aprox £5. The Durgun gun is the best one in my opinion. its had a lot of improvments recently and you should get between 2 1/2 to 3 tons mix through it before it needs replacing

Cheers

Steve

[DNgroundworks]

I thought the durgun was shit?

Anyway - ye i always use easipoint on flagging work, and if im working on my own i just mix up half a bag at a time, we had an issue once were the customer requested overly large joints (30mm+) and there was some surface shrinkage cracks, had the easipoint tech team out and they said it would be fine, and it was. Other than that its great stuff

[seanandruby]

If you are a trowelful short you have to open another bag
and cost @£25 a bag roughly.

Isn't that the case with everything ??? Maybe if you write and ask they will put in an extra trowelful but what if you are then two trowelfuls short :;): :laugh: