Let’s talk about crack sand. We all try to save money where we can, but sometimes scrimping backfires. After living with our finished patio for a few weeks, we realized we should have sprung for the pricier product the first time.
For the initial joint filling we used leftover paver sand instead of paying roughly $95 for a polymeric sand delivery from the stoneyard. Polymeric sand contains binders that help it lock in place and resist weeds and erosion better than ordinary paver sand.
At first the ordinary paver sand looked fine in the joints…
…but a few weeks and several rains later, the sand had washed out in many spots. That left gaps and an uneven appearance that bothered me.
So we decided to buy a bucket of polymeric sand from Lowe’s for about $30. One bucket was technically meant to cover only part of the patio, but because the original sand remained packed in the bottom of many joints, the new product went further than expected. One bucket ended up being enough, with some left over, so we still spent much less than the initial $95 quote.
Applying the polymeric sand was tedious. Following the directions, I used a Ziploc with the corner snipped off to fill the joints precisely. It took patience — lots of joints meant lots of pouring and sweeping.
At first I applied too much sand, which is a problem because once polymeric sand is wetted it behaves like cement. It’s important to keep the material off the faces of the pavers so it only bonds in the joints where you want it.
Working section by section, I swept the excess off the surface until the joints looked more subtle. In the photo the top half shows the finished area while the bottom still needed attention.
As an extra step, after filling and sweeping I ran an electric leaf blower on its lowest setting across the whole patio to remove any remaining sand from the paver faces. Then I misted the entire area with a hose per the product instructions, careful to wet it evenly without washing the sand back out of the joints.
In hindsight I wish I had removed a little more surface sand before wetting, so the seams would have been slightly thinner. Lesson learned: use polymeric sand from the start. That said, the finished look isn’t bad — it has a settled, established appearance rather than looking brand-new and stark.
Even though we saved about $60 overall, hiring the polymeric sand upfront would have saved time. Filling the joints with ordinary paver sand took three passes to look decent initially, whereas the polymeric product achieved a finished look in one pass. I also expect the polymeric sand to do a better job over time resisting weeds, ant nests, and erosion.
About a month after installing the polymeric sand, and after a series of thunderstorms, the joints still looked solid and intact. We waited to share this update to confirm how it would hold up, and so far it’s stayed put — much to my relief.
Have you ever learned a similar lesson the hard way — wishing you had spent a bit more to do a job properly the first time? I’d love to hear your stories to remind me I’m not the only one who makes choices like this.