Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 9:49 pm
Recently lifted and re-laid a fair bit of block paving (around 80m2) with help from the regulars on this site (thank you for all your advice and assistance).
I had to mix in some new pavers with it to have enough material for the new patio. Laid it in May and deliberated long and hard about whether to seal it or not. The old paving had been down for ten years and problems with weeds, moss, algae and ants have been the bane of my life so decided to go for it and seal using Resiblock superior matt (got it off eBay from the Resiblock trade shop).
Paving had been down for a few months so having finally got a few days clear weather, went for it this week. It has darkened the blocks as expected (no bad thing) and the old blocks were slightly less absorbent than the new but overall I'm pretty pleased with the result (so far so good anyway). Risk of efflorescence should be well past by now. It is not a great job to do (gloves and mask required) but applied with a long handled large roller it went on easily, did not pick up the jointing sand (I cleaned all the joints, re-sanded and hand swept the whole area before applying the sealant) and the coverage was better than expected (used 15L less than estimated).
Obviously it's horses for courses and sealant isn't right for everyone but Resiblock does seem to attract a fair bit of bad press (presumably because once it's on you're stuck with it) so I thought I would post what seems to be a good result for a change (touch wood). Certainly good enough for a DiYer like me
Didn't go for the wet look stuff though - a bit too 'Disneyland' for my taste. :;):
Andy
I had to mix in some new pavers with it to have enough material for the new patio. Laid it in May and deliberated long and hard about whether to seal it or not. The old paving had been down for ten years and problems with weeds, moss, algae and ants have been the bane of my life so decided to go for it and seal using Resiblock superior matt (got it off eBay from the Resiblock trade shop).
Paving had been down for a few months so having finally got a few days clear weather, went for it this week. It has darkened the blocks as expected (no bad thing) and the old blocks were slightly less absorbent than the new but overall I'm pretty pleased with the result (so far so good anyway). Risk of efflorescence should be well past by now. It is not a great job to do (gloves and mask required) but applied with a long handled large roller it went on easily, did not pick up the jointing sand (I cleaned all the joints, re-sanded and hand swept the whole area before applying the sealant) and the coverage was better than expected (used 15L less than estimated).
Obviously it's horses for courses and sealant isn't right for everyone but Resiblock does seem to attract a fair bit of bad press (presumably because once it's on you're stuck with it) so I thought I would post what seems to be a good result for a change (touch wood). Certainly good enough for a DiYer like me
Didn't go for the wet look stuff though - a bit too 'Disneyland' for my taste. :;):
Andy