Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Advice for lowest maintenance patio please

2 replies

nothingcomestonothing · 01/05/2024 13:26

I'm probably unwise to admit this on this forum, but I'm not a gardener. I'm lazy. I have a bit of patio currently that is slabs but it's got loads of grass growing between the slabs and I'm too lazy to weed/deal with it.

What kind of patio should I get, given this? I looked at stamped concrete, due to no need to weed, but few companies seem to do it and the ones that do don't even bother answering my enquiries. Then I looked at resin bound, same reasoning - the quote was £7k which seems like a lot! Any gardeners willing to advise me please?

OP posts:
brambleberries · 01/05/2024 14:28

Spend a bit of time clearing out the grass, weeds and any soil from the gaps between your existing slabs. If they're tricky to pull out, pour boiling water on the weeds and into the gaps to reach its roots. Try again after 10 minutes. If the patio is wet, let it dry completely.

When all of the gaps are completely cleared, and on a dry day - mix together 2-parts builders sand with one-part cement powder (so two buckets of sand to one bucket of cement powder) on the patio. Ensure the cement powder is fresh and not old. Mix well - DON'T add water.

Using a broom - a firmer bristled one works best - sweep the dry powder mixture into all the gaps in the slabs until they are filled and smooth. Keep brushing in different directions to ensure the gaps are completely filled. Brush any excess powder off the patio and discard it. Don't use any water- the cement mixture in the gaps will draw the water it needs from the soil, and you will see it starting to darken.

In a few days you can use a hose pipe to clean the slabs, but take care not to wash out the powder mixture. It will take a while to dry and cure. As it does so, it will expand very slightly to make a good seal in the gaps - and hopefully - there will be no more weeds. Cost is just a couple of bags of builders sand and a bag of cement.

RogueFemale · 02/05/2024 10:41

Or use a jointing compound. Bear in mind that, although this will prevent weeds/grass growing in the gaps between slabs, it won't prevent moss (nothing will prevent moss).

New posts on this thread. Refresh page