Thursday, July 28, 2011

Sand in your crack

Title too much?  Sorry.  We are having a soiree in August at Casa Hilton. That is my new last name, isn't it fabulous?  This party will be primarily on our patio, so we did a little 'spruce up' last weekend.
The obvious problems were disgusting dirt...
...and completely missing polymeric sand in between some pavers.
So I divised a concoction for cleaning the pavers before we redid the sand.
I remembered that I had bought this masonry cleaner a few years ago to clean our basement concrete before painting, and I thought it would work well for any tough stains on our concrete pavers. I threw a big scoop of Oxy Clean in there as well, because Oxy Clean is the BOMB!  This mixture was super bubbly. 
We did buy a heavy duty scrubber on a long handle for this job.
Then we used the hose to rinse off and push the dirty suds to the grass. This was kind of a long process.
We waited a few hours for the sun to dry everything up, then put our polymeric sand (we had an entire bag left from the original construction) into quart baggies with the ends snipped off for application.
I realize most people just sweep it into the cracks, but that is what we did originally and I was not impressed with the longevity of the sand, so we did it this way to make sure that each and every crack was filled. (HA!) The difference was extremely gratifying.
Polymeric sand is supposed to stop weeds from forming, but sadly this isn't completely the case. We spent a lot of time pulling little baby weeds out of the cracks.  Wop wop.  We ended up with a lot of excess sand when we swept the remainder off, but that's ok.
The final step was to lightly wet the entire patio and then hope that it doesn't rain for 2 days afterwards.  We did get a light sprinkle of rain, but mostly the weather cooperated! 
It all looked so nice when wet, I was hoping it would dry perfect as well.
And, it totally did...as perfect as it will get, anyway!
I'm SO happy we took the time to redo the sand and clean the pavers. 
Wanna come hang out?  Shoot me an email!
(Taken with my new toy - a sweet fisheye lens!  Don't mind the stupid recycling bin...what an eyesore...)

22 comments:

  1. I just finished my patio - and am maybe doing my sealer this weekend. I lurve the wet look, so I got sealer that will give me it 100% of the time. Woot! It's a sealing/planting weekend. I don't have any weeds yet, and only one ant hill so far.

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  2. I'm sure that was a painstaking-ly tedious job but seriously, it looks awesome! A great payoff!

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  3. wow- that is one awesome crack! seriously, it looks fabulous- that was a lot of work! and totally worth it. :)

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  4. Ooo ... that looks so nice!

    I'm gonna have to remember the oxy clean & masonry cleaner combination to try on our patio in the back. It could sure benefit from a good scrubbing!

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  5. BBQ? Beers? Wine? I'm there!! ;)

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  6. Nice work! And fun fisheye lens! You have such a perfect outdoor area to enjoy beerskis with friendskis. I'm jealous!!!!

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  7. Wow! I didn't realize it'd be such a difference. It looks so super nice. What a great patio space. And I'm loving the fisheye lens look, too.

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  8. Seriously - LOVE YOUR HOME! You two have done such a great job on it and if I haven't said it enough Congrats on getting married girl!!! Love the new last name - we will both have H's now for initials after my big day!

    Can't wait to read more - it's been forever since I visited... don't worry I know where you keep the glasses I'll fix myself a drink and read a spell. ;) hehe

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  9. I am going to have to use your cake icing method for filling in stubborn cracks though. I have two extra bags of poly sand leftover...better get to work this weekend :)

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  10. I am going to have to use your cake icing method for filling in stubborn cracks though. I have two extra bags of poly sand leftover...better get to work this weekend :)

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  11. Looks nice Sara!!!
    Have a great party!

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  12. I love the patio, but the fisheye lens is what I'm really envious of!

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  13. Whooo, nice work! It's amazing what a little cleaning can do sometimes. I'm sure your party is going to be great!

    Oh, and that fisheye lens is da bomb.

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  14. Looks fab, of course! Just a thought, if your recycling bin sits in the same place all the time, why not make a simple bamboo (or other material) screen to hide it? Kind of like a trellis that you can stash it behind but still have easy access to. (Please keep in mind that I am very sleep deprived at the moment, so this may not be as good an idea as I think)

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  15. Wow your yard is beautiful! Nicely done with the sand and pavers :).

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  16. The patio looks great! And I love the new lens! Can't wait to see more photos.

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  17. Nicely done! It looks great, and this way you'll keep your stones from having moss and weeds making your pavers look ramshackle.

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  18. I'm on my way...I know your parties have got to be FUN!!

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  19. Looks great! I still love your patio! It makes me want to finish the one we've been working on off-and-on all summer!

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  20. Yep! I totally want to come hang out! Great job with the patio cleanup.

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Thanks so much for reading....your comments mean a lot to me!
Sara