# Best way to remove ploymeric sand from between pavers



## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Do any if you lot have any ideas for this. Had a friend who had pavers done and he had a lot replaced but he's trying to get the old sand out. 

Any tips?


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## jproffer (Feb 19, 2005)

not sure about that particular sand, but compressed air might blow it out. If it "sets up" like concrete, then nevermind that.

Use at your own risk...follow whatever safety rules you think are necessary, etc, etc, etc...BS, BS, BS...not my fault....all that jazz....blah, blah, blah.


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

When we work with pavers and an area has to come out for some reason, we toss the bricks, it's not worth the time involved to get them clean enough to reuse. 

A sharp scraper might get most of the polymeric off, but it's a pain.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

What happened was the installers put the sand down when it was raining. The top surface of the polymeric sand skinned over and the rest never really set up. Its over 2000sqft of blocks and its brand new so no way its being thrown out so he's left with trying to get out the sand to put new sand down.


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## jproffer (Feb 19, 2005)

I'm starting to understand what we're talking about now :thumbsup:.

I retract my original suggestion.


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

If the surface of the blocks is clean, I would not mess with it, the poly will eventually absorb enough moisture to set completely.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

tgeb said:


> If the surface of the blocks is clean, I would not mess with it, the poly will eventually absorb enough moisture to set completely.


That's the problem. it already has set. The Rep from the company who checked it said that the installer didnt wet it down quick enough. Basicly what happened was the rain only just about set up the surface. By the time they sprayed it down with the hose the surface was dry and was not letting enough water through to soak the rest of the sand. Which meant it didnt get its full strength from the get go so now it coming up all over the place and his pool gets full of sand from the pavers. The installer aint coming back as he has had 3x to correct the issue so he got another company to come out and fix what they could but 60% of the pavers are still bad. They need to find a way to remove the old sand which never set right from the beginning so new stuff can go down. 

I thought hot pressure washer and a stiff brush was about the only thing he could do or maybe there was a cleaner that could go down that would soften the polymeric sand enough to loosen with a pressure washer


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## TimelessQuality (Sep 23, 2007)

How about trying get it to crack up with a plate compactor?


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

TimelessQuality said:


> How about trying get it to crack up with a plate compactor?


Thats a option. That might loosen enough of it to get it coming up


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## jb4211 (Jul 13, 2010)

TimelessQuality said:


> How about trying get it to crack up with a plate compactor?


Sounds like a great suggestion to me: quick and easy in theory.


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## jb4211 (Jul 13, 2010)

Another option, not so easy, is to cut it out as if cutting concrete


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

Those guys didn't read the instructions, eh? Or they didn't have air to blow off the surface dust...or they didn't have a spray nozzle with a mist setting handy when it was time to mist.

The polymeric sand I'm familiar with sets up like rubberized caulk. If that's what you got, utility knife (and extra blades) is probably the way to go.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

MarkJames said:


> Those guys didn't read the instructions, eh? Or they didn't have air to blow off the surface dust...or they didn't have a spray nozzle with a mist setting handy when it was time to mist. The polymeric sand I'm familiar with sets up like rubberized caulk. If that's what you got, utility knife (and extra blades) is probably the way to go.


They were Mexican and couldn't read English. The company who makes the product said they are trying to make the instructions more clear on what to do. 

It does set up like caulk. Way too much area to start trying to cut it out. 

They also didn't use a tamper pad on the tamper and it made the block look weird too.


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## 66 Shelby (Jan 11, 2009)

TimelessQuality said:


> How about trying get it to crack up with a plate compactor?


Then a hammer & chisel, shop vac, and a lot of hand-work. Sounds like a sucky job. Charge by the hour and go sloooooow. Don't want to injure yourself by going too fast :laughing:


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

Steam pressure wash. The water needs to be at least 180 degrees. If you do that it will come up. It will also help remove any haze from the pavers.

Anything else will be an exercise in futility. You want to reactivate the polymer and about the only way to do that is with heat.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Lucky enough I'm not doing it.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

Screw the hand work. No chisels, no knives, no chipping and scraping.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

Here's a vid I found with the desired results. He is using steam pressure washing.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

TNTSERVICES said:


> Here's a vid I found with the desired results. He is using steam pressure washing. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJQhlmAc8yk">YouTube Link</a>


That looks like it works well


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## concretemasonry (Dec 1, 2006)

I have never seen polymeric sand used by a real paving contractor on a big job (20-40 acre industrial site with 20,000 to 100,000# loads, roads or streets) with 80 to 100 mm thick interlocking concrete pavers. - Tight joints and fine sand with a 1" coarse sand setting bed.

Best to avoid it unless someone specifies it.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

concretemasonry said:


> I have never seen polymeric sand used by a real paving contractor on a big job (20-40 acre industrial site with 20,000 to 100,000# loads, roads or streets) with 80 to 100 mm thick interlocking concrete pavers. - Tight joints and fine sand with a 1" coarse sand setting bed.
> 
> Best to avoid it unless someone specifies it.


It was made for DIY'ers.


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