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Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 6:58 pm
by DieselCoffee
I have a friend about to lay a natural limestone patio using Toro from Strata Stones. It has sawn edges and is laid with minimal joints. If he allows a joint of any size, the pattern will not work - they are virtually butted up but there is a joint of sorts that he wants to fill.
In the image, there is clearly some kind of jointing compound. The problem is that the polymeric jointing compounds say 3mm x 24mm deep or even 6mm for a minimum gap. He's been advised to use a polymeric but is worried about the joint taking properly.
I'm wondering if the polymerics will work and that they just advertise the 3mm minimum to cover themselves.
Has anyone come across this before and is there a product that anyone could recommend?
His original thought was a 'tile' grout - it's not sounding so crazy now!
Thanks!
Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 5:00 am
by lutonlagerlout
gftk vdw 815 goes down to 3mm joints
also think romex D1 does too
total crock of shite about the pattern not working with bigger joints, of course it will 
I dont like anything smaller than 5mm myself,but another alternative is ardex grout
cheers LLL
Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 1:15 pm
by Tony McC
As LLL says, the good quality 2-part resin mortars are OK down to 3mm. I'm not convinced that 1-part/polymerics are any good at all in such a narrow joint.
A know the German resin mortar manufacturers are playing with a formulation for 1mm joints, and it sounds promising, but, as far as I know, it's not available in Britain or Ireland just yet.
So, for the time being, a fine-grained outdoor-grade tile jointing grout seems to be the better option, but, if it were me, I'd tease those joints out to 3mm and fill them with a 2-part resin mortar.
Unless the paving units are graded to highly accurate dimensions, tolerances of 0.3mm or less, then using a 1mm joint will only serve to emphasise any dimensional differences. By using a 3mm joint, even a tolerance of ±1mm is much less noticeable.
Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 1:27 pm
by DieselCoffee
Thanks you both for your replies!
Another external source also mentioned about using an external grout for minimal joints.
I am in touch with the installer so will be able to feedback how the job goes.
Thanks again!