Geofix joints on concrete bed - help! - Geofix joints on concrete bed - help!

[Nomis]

At the weekend I pointed up my brand new patio which is 34m2 of 600 x 600 mm concrete slabs laid on a full bed of mortar on a solid 3 to 4 inch concrete bed. I used Geofix Paving Jointing Compound and had the job done in a couple of hours. The finished job looked amazing - UNTIL - it rained on Sunday night! The product was fully cured when it rained, but since it is a water permeable product, water has filled the joints which, although are hard, now look wet. The water is basically sitting in the joints with nowhere to go (because of the concrete bed) and all the slabs have wet stains seeping in from the joints. Gutted! After a couple of days of no rain the joints all still look wet and messy. According to Geofix who I spoke to, the water will simply sit in the joints and the product will crumble over time.

My question is, before I knock the whole lot out (and kiss goodbye to best part of £110), is there any way to salvage this job? Is there a way to somehow waterproof the joints to stop water getting in in the first place? Does anyone have any suggestions before I rip up the lot and do what I had originally hoped to avoid - mortar pointing!!

Thanks in advance.

[Carberry]

Around here we call geofix geosh*t.

Needs to all come out and be repointed with 4:1 sand cement, easipoint or a 2 part polymer.

[lutonlagerlout]

nomis ,^^ what stewart said
geofix is a polymeric and basically is not up to the british weather
we slated it 6 years ago on this very forum and havent been contradicted since
2 part epoxy is mega expense
3:1 sharp sand cement is a proper job
LLL

[Nomis]

Thanks for the advice.

The way I see it though is that ultimately the whole lot will have to come out. Surely I should try to seal the joints (maybe with some Thomsons Water Seal or similar) and then maybe that will get me through a couple of years before I then dig it all out and do it properly with sand and cement?

[lutonlagerlout]

you have to be on a wind up mate
thomson water fail is second only to geofix as a hated product by most regular posters on here
i find if you get a pint of semi skimmed milk and pour that over the slabs you can get a decent seal too
LLL

[lutonlagerlout]

simon you will be wasting your time faffing around
get it out now and do the job properly mate
LLL :;):

[Nomis]

Fair play. Thanks for the honesty. So do I need to add anything to the sand / cement mix to make it 100% non-permeable? Remember I have a 3 to 4 inch bed of solid concrete underneath. I don't want the same problem happening again with water getting into the joints and staining the slabs wet.

[DNgroundworks]

no...water will not penetrate into sand and cement, i personally get on well with easipoint, and use it on nearly job, but 3/4-1 sand and cement will be fine, you could put sbr in the mix, but its not needed IMO and makes the mix a bit trickier to use.