Remortaring the patio

[Clagbag]

Hi, I have just spent a warm (wet) Sunday jetwashing the patio and , three hours and two changes of shoes later, have made it come up sparkling. I noticed while I was doing it that a lot of the original mortar has crumbled away, almost to nothing in some cases, and that there are now huge gaps between the slabs and the occasional weed poking through. I would love to kill the weeds off and remortar the entire area so it looks like new but have never attempted anything quite so ambitious in the garden before. What would I need to accomplish this and would I need to remove all the old mortar first? Is there an alternative perhaps that I haven't thought of?

By the way, a little tip, don't point a jetwasher directly at loose soil! I was picking it out of my teeth.

Cheers.

 

[IanDB]

No, you've blown it!! You'll have to re-point it. I would suggest that you dig out the old mortar, apply some weedkiller and spend happy hours on your hands and knees re-mortaring.

This here is an excellent website for telling you useful things like how to do it, mixes, colours etc, etc.

Good Luck!

 

[Clagbag]

Ah sorry, should have been more clear. It wasn't my blasting shenanigans that stripped the mortar, it's just very old and had crumbled anyway. I just got the urge to fill it in, having made the slabs look nice again. I'll check that link out... thanks.