Geofix jointing coming loose and discoloured

[CharlesElliott]

About 18 months ago we had an Indian Sandstone patio laid and the jointing was done with Geofix. There are two issues with it - firstly it is coming loose in a number of areas (I am getting the person who did the work back to look at that). The second is that is that it seems very prone to looking dirty, having moss grow on it etc. I assume that this is because it absorbs water which then sits there for some time. This is really noticeable where there is some old granite sett edging that was jointed with mortar and pretty much always looks the same, wet or dry. There is no moss on these bits either and they have been around for 10+ years.

This is touched on on the Paving Expert site but is Geofix/polymeric jointing just an unsuitable product for areas that are naturally damp (the patio is shaded for a lot of the day and we have obviously had a wet summer!)

Regards,

Charles

[Carberry]

Geofix is just unsuitable for patios period. It is a crap product.

Either repoint with mortar, a product like easypoint or a 2 part resin like gtfk.

You will probably need to apply a moss killer once a year to sort out any problems if your patio is in the shade and wet most of the time. Whoever laid your patio should have also advised you to use a hard stone.

[Pablo]

I concur although I'd use stronger language to descibe how rubbish it is.

[lutonlagerlout]

in fairness to the contractor i still get merchants trying to flog me the stuff
telling me its new and improved
I know blokes who have used it in the last month after i warned them against it
about 12 years ago i even used it on my own patio :O
it seemed like a utopian idea from an installers perspective
but its no good,shade damp or anything
LLL

[CharlesElliott]

Thanks for the feedback. It seemed a good idea to me at the time (I wasn't given an option, but I did ask how it worked) but now I see that it isn't

I'll see what the contractor says. Overall, I don't think that the choices I made were good ones, and I probably lacked some information and/or didn't ask the right questions - for the stones at the jointing.

[Bob_A]

I'd also stay away from Rompox Easy which is also a brush in.
My garden is south facing has little nearby vegetation and mine is eroding away and looks shite

[local patios and driveway]

Have it done properly, the old way, just like your setts. Simples

[CharlesElliott]

Contractor is coming back to resolve - which I guess means fill in gaps with more Geofix. Unfortunately, remembering back, I think that they used dots/dabs to lay it which doesn't fill me with happiness.

Having said that, they are/were highly recommended.....so in general, their results must be good. Or maybe I just have higher expectations!

[lutonlagerlout]

charles
a lot of blokes i know still believe that dots and dabs are the best way to lay patios
they have been doing them like that for 30 years blablabla
it makes a lovely home for mice and or frogs
you would be better getting him to rake the lot out and reinstall with mortar
LLL

[Chelsea1]

We had a patio laid October last year, 2011.. The slabs are 315 x 315 manmade terracota tiles. We were happy with our installer, but are very unhappy with the geofix joints. The Geofix was recommended by our installer. However, because of the style of the slabs, and the style of the patio itself, the joints between the slabs are fairly wide. The Geofix rarely dries out properly, always looking wet and dirty and when it does dry it cracks and lifts. When wet, rainwater sits in the shallow wide joints, lifts out the Geofix and we believe it then sits on the slabs, with the rainwater evaporating to leave dirty stains on the slabs. Its a huge disappointment. Our installer is willing to come back and replace, but at our expense - why at our expense when the product is obviously not fit for purpose? As one of the comments above, there is already moss growing in parts and the patio has been down about 10 months. Is there anywhere we can go to resolve this, ie get the contractor back to remove the geofix and replace with something suitable, at his expense as it was put in on his recommendation.

[lutonlagerlout]

you could contact the manufacturers as i did 8 years ago
they sent out 2 big burly northern twats who tried to befuddle me with science and bollox
shame on you degussa
we had to rake out and repoint 6 patios
the only saving grace was that the easipoint came out easy
i still see this stuff sitting on shelves in BMs and I have told them time and time again its rubbish but they still stock it
even if your installer has followed the instructions to the t they will still squirm out of it
its a toughy but i would stick with sand and cement or easipoint now (which is sand and cement)
I hear good things about marshalls weather point 365 but have bought to much snake oil in the past to take this at face value
LLL

[CharlesElliott]

Chelsea1 - sounds like almost exactly our experience of Geofix. It pretty much always (90%) of the time looks wet and dirty. I would estimate that it takes 3-4 days to dry out, at which point there is almost certainly more rain.