Rpointing ... !!!

[Rick]

Have a reasonably large patio & path area of Indian Sandstone ... (175 sq m)

Laid 2 years ago ... and now after 2nd winter - quite a lot of the pointing is coming away ... on advice here I specified standard mortar pointing rather than any of the pour-in mixes.

(The company used also always used mortar pointing. )


I need to re-point, is this a case of just raking it out and doing same again ... 3:1 mix packed in and tooled up ?
or is there any mileage out of using a pointing 'gun'

If the latter, is there anything better than just a semi-wet mix, additives, polymer grouts etc ?


Secondly ... there are a coupe of loose slabs ... not rocking but you can tell by sound that they are not fixed to the bed .. is re-pointing enough ( as still fully supported) or as I'm assuming it is necessary to removes and re-lay ?

[local patios and driveway]

Those hollow slabs could be left i you cant pull them out. However if they lift up, re fix.

[London Stone Paving]

If you've got to repoint the whole job its a good idea to remove the loose slabs and relay. Otherwise if you re-point and the slabs are still loose then it wont be long before the pointing around the loose slabs starts to fail again

[Rick]

OK ... thanks for comments on that ... what about the product to use / pointing gun ?

[London Stone Paving]

I would always say easipoint for your pointing mix and the gun should be a Durgun 45.

But I do sell both products so you could say that my answer is not very objective :laugh:

[Rick]

I'll go Google easipoint ... not heard of this.

Can you give me a clue as to how much this costs ?

I have been given a 'new' pointing gun ... boxed set of tubes, nozzles etc. .... by local Brickie ... he tried it once and went back to a gauging trowel although he was putting in standard bricklaying mortar.

Comments on-line suggest standard sand cement not much good in the guns.

[London Stone Paving]

You will be paying in the region of £25 + VAT ber bag for easipoint. A bag should cover 12-15m2 on gaps of 10mm.

If you do go for easipoint follow the instructions on the bag to the absolute letter. One of the most important things what a lot of people dont do is to allow the mix to go off in the bucket for 5 minutes before giving it a further mix. This activates a component of easipoint which makes it last longer in the gun

Steve

[haggistini]

There was a few comments on another thread about the qtys of water I know LLL has his opinion on gun pointing personally I'd take it all out pressure wash it and resin point it yourself

[lutonlagerlout]

i find you need a little more water than they state,more like 4.5 to 5 litres
plastering sand and cement works through the guns and is very cheap but not as nice a finish as easipoint
epoxy mortar costs an arm and a leg and is only for the oligarchs
LLL :;):