Patio grouting (Sika Pave Fix Plus) problem

[GusGF]

During the summer I laid a small patio using the above grout and I recently went back to have a look at it only to find I could scratch out the grout using my finger nail. It was wet through though as it had been raining but was well compacted. I dread to think what will happen when the frost gets to it.
I previously laid a similar size patio had made up my own grout using sand and cement which worked a treat but swore not to repeat as it was back breaking work. My own grout being a crumbly mixture meant being down on all fours to do it properly.

I've not got a much larger area to grout and I'm seriously worried about using shop bought grout after my experience above. I was wondering if anyone had tried or advise on doing grouting using a liquid mixture of sand/cement from say a watering can fed into the joints.

Any advice appreciated

 

[r896neo]

Sika is pretty crap. There are other one part polymerics like weatherpoint 365 and easyjoint which are better but they are water permeable so will always be softer than a normal sand and cement joint.

Slurry jointing is effective but needs a fair amount of bravery and careful timing. There are rapid setting cement based slurry products like instarmac flowpoint but they are not for the faint hearted or inexperienced.

You can do as you suggest and lightly hose the flags as it hardens to remove the excess but if you hose to much you weaken the crust of the joint but hose too little and you have bad staining. Try it on a small area first, you also need a plan to deal with the run off.

The other choice is to use a wet mortar applied with a gun which is faster than your hands and knees method.

If its less than 20sqm go for the gun, more than that try the slurry. Have a read of paving expert.com slurry jointing.

 

[GusGF]

From reading some of the threads on Paving Expert people seem to have had good experiences with Easy Joint, Rompox Easy, and Flowpoint. I've got to regrout over the next month or two my own patio which is about 32sqm. I'm a DIY'er so need something thats going to be fairly easy to use which from what I can glean this would narrow it down to Easy Joint and Rompox Easy. My existing patio isn't on a solid concrete base but more like some sort of semi hard sandy base, can't detect movement in the tiles though. Am leaning towards Easy Joint as the sandstone slabs are tapered so gap may not be 5mm throughout the depth.

Like you say the the flowpoint is not for the faint hearted. Fine if you do this as a job but it does require a mixer I would think to do it properly.

 

[r896neo]

I would steer away from rompox easy, I had a few bad experiences with it. Ended up taking them out and redoing with fliwpoint.

Marshalls weatherpoint, easyjoint or gtfk vdw seem the best about for one parts.

 

[GusGF]

I would steer away from rompox easy, I had a few bad experiences with it. Ended up taking them out and redoing with fliwpoint.

Marshalls weatherpoint, easyjoint or gtfk vdw seem the best about for one parts.

Yea think I'll go for easyjoint as their messing around with mixing stuff in. That gtfk vdw looks pretty expensive.

Thanks

 

[Unknownstuntman01]

As with any of these type of products there are pros and cons to all. Sika Pave Fix Plus is a permeable product, if it is laid in a joint were moisture does not drain away it will return to a soft consistency, this is the only reason it will go soft if initially curing hard other than bleach being applied to clean.