Many gardens and other outdoor areas can be truly up scaled with the practical use of large stepping -or paving- stones called pavers. Pavers are a great solution for gardens, garages and general open zones around your house. This is a durable flooring option and a fashionable way to decorate said open spaces.
Paving stones nowadays are created from stone, brick, concrete, etc. and their shapes, colors and pricing has come a long way as well, hence you’ll most likely find a great ranged variety at any hardware or garden renovation store in your area, this way you will have several options when deciding to landscape your garden.
Although some people might actually prefer them on the rustic side, pavers tend to look so much better when adorned and sealed with an assortment of products. The product that is easiest to set up, most reliable and flexible of these is polymeric sand. Being so flexible and having such a straightforward formulation, polymeric sand is preferred when sealing paver joints from the elements, ants, weeds, what have you.
The material is made from a unique polymeric placed between the pavers and activated by water, which upon reaction with the sand creates a bond similar to that of mortar, and once dried, will be rock solid as the pavers.
Polymeric sand is great for the overall maintenance of your stones, increasing the longevity of the flooring installed and substantially minimizing the amount of water that might penetrate or leak through the paving joints. This product’s installation might be quite stress free, but in the case some mishaps are bound to happen -maybe some haze formed around a couple of stones, you forgot a spot of polymeric sand on a corner or maybe you want to renovate a side of your garden to revamps its look altogether- you can count on some steps to treat any of these situations and determine how to remove polymeric sand from pavers easily.
In the eventuality you actually need to remove any and all sand from your pavers, know that you need to act very quickly if it is post installation, or you’ll need some extra help if the sand’s bond has already been activated. Polymeric sand haze is one of these situations, and is a result of leaving behind some sand on top of the stones right before misting the polymer with water. Wanting to learn how to remove polymeric sand from pavers steps’ are quite simple, considering it might also be very time consuming.
Removing sand before watering it.
Right after pouring the sand into the paver joints is the best chance to remove it since once it dries, the process will require much more time and sometimes even the use of chemicals to get the polymers off the stone’s surface. To effectively remove it before misting the water to activate it, you should avoid watering the surface or working on a wet surface at all cost, as any contact with water will harden the sand and entirely foil all preventions made to removing it in an easy manner.
To begin the process of how to remove polymeric sand from pavers, get a broom and sweep the surface to clean it as best as you can, to remove all sand from the surface and just leave the filled joints. This is a crucial step in installing and removing sand from pavers, so repeat it as many times as needed. If you have a leaf blower, you can use it after completely sweeping thoroughly all of the expanse of the installation, when using a blower be careful not to remove the sand from the joints, as this will only require you to repeat all steps again.
Removing right after watering.
If you have already watered down the surface and quickly noticed a spot where the sand was not swept properly or completely, acting quickly is the best way to get rid of it. Have at the zone in question with a hard bristle brush to try and remove the sand while it is wet. Since the polymer will react super quickly to water, you need to be just as fast. In case you notice the spot after watering and sealing, the steps are quite different.
Removing haze after installation.
For sand that was left on pavers from a faulty installation or a corner that piled up too high, the best solution is to reactivate the polymers. Using warm or hot water, poured straight into the affected surface will wash the product away. If the area is large you will want to employ a pressure washer with hot water, make sure to use an oscillating head in order to not wear down your stone while trying to remove the polymeric sand from its surface.
Replacing it all.
In the case of a new garden, driveway or outdoor zone that you want to landscape completely or if you just moved and encountered old polymeric sand installed on the old house’s paving stones and want to give it a new look, removing the old sand will be a good option, but also quite the chore.
Since you are learning how to remove polymeric sand from pavers, get ready to spend a few good hours in this process. The use of a hot water pressure washer is key when activating the polymers back, but this will leave some areas with remnants of sand in between the joints. For these you will have to scrape it off and then blow it out with either the pressure washer once more, or a blower so the joints are rid of the polymers.
Removing polymeric sand from paving stones needs to be done properly in order to leave the area ready for the next installation to be performed. Whether you are just removing a portion or the complete stretch of the installation, be sure to have at least one inch of empty joint space where the new sand will go. This will ensure the new sand creates a strong and firm bond once it’s placed properly back into the paving stone.
