Hi,
We have just finished laying our new patio and need to point it this weekend. It's 2.56m circle with a square -off kit taking it out to 3m sq. We have opted to leave one quarter of the square off kit off and curve the lawn edge to make it a bit different.
The attached picture was before completion, but I wanted to give you a better idea of what we have done.
I would really appreciate help on a few points:
1. Wet or Dry Mix: our understanding is that wet is far better than dry. We have done everything else 'properly' to this stage and would hate to ruin it now !
2. Looking on the internet, some people use sharp sand, others use soft - what is the difference and which should we use? (we have sharp sand and cement left over from laying the patio)
3. What mix would you use? the common answer appears to be 3:1 sand/cement - do you agree?
4. For laying we used platiciser in the mix - is this needed for pointing? if so in what amounts? (we have liquid as opposed to powder)
5. Is it worth using a gun of some sort? happy to do it by hand using trowel(s) if this would produce the best result.
6. If we ignore the fact that one corner is missing and treat it as 3m sq, how much sand/cement are we going to need - I have no comprehension of whether we needs 2 bags sand or 20 !
Finally, your opinion please...
Someone has suggested using uncoloured mortar on the sun and darken it for the charcoal square off section. What would you do? two colours or one colour? if one colour, all in buff or all in charcoal.
Thanks very much for your help
We have just finished laying our new patio and need to point it this weekend. It's 2.56m circle with a square -off kit taking it out to 3m sq. We have opted to leave one quarter of the square off kit off and curve the lawn edge to make it a bit different.
The attached picture was before completion, but I wanted to give you a better idea of what we have done.
I would really appreciate help on a few points:
1. Wet or Dry Mix: our understanding is that wet is far better than dry. We have done everything else 'properly' to this stage and would hate to ruin it now !
2. Looking on the internet, some people use sharp sand, others use soft - what is the difference and which should we use? (we have sharp sand and cement left over from laying the patio)
3. What mix would you use? the common answer appears to be 3:1 sand/cement - do you agree?
4. For laying we used platiciser in the mix - is this needed for pointing? if so in what amounts? (we have liquid as opposed to powder)
5. Is it worth using a gun of some sort? happy to do it by hand using trowel(s) if this would produce the best result.
6. If we ignore the fact that one corner is missing and treat it as 3m sq, how much sand/cement are we going to need - I have no comprehension of whether we needs 2 bags sand or 20 !
Finally, your opinion please...
Someone has suggested using uncoloured mortar on the sun and darken it for the charcoal square off section. What would you do? two colours or one colour? if one colour, all in buff or all in charcoal.
Thanks very much for your help
