The front and back patios were neglected for many years, and were full of weeds. A few months back, I had a maintenance guy come round to work on them. Back patio - he pressure washed and nothing more. This knocked out a load of the existing pointing, leaving it a crumbly mess of empty channels, and a little bit of the old stuff intact (picture with the pink and yellow slabs).
The front drive he also pressure washed. This knocked out some of the existing pointing. Then, without waiting for it to dry or manually removing the rest of the old pointing, he swept in a mix of sand and cement. The result is pretty ugly - it all looks light and sandy, the jointing is not a uniform colour (the sand/cement was not mixed properly, and there is some of the old pointing remaining), the sand seems to have stained the slabs, weeds are back within months, and there was sand coming off of everyone's shoes for weeks. It also doesn't seem as structurally sound as it was before he wrecked it.
The contractor is now out of the picture, and I learned my lesson about hiring people. I now have time to fix this mess. What should I do? The back patio has joints up to 2cm wide and a few mm deep, and the front crazy paving has gaps up to 10cm wide. I think the back should be ok because all he did was pressure wash it - so if I just pressure wash it again, dig out all the old pointing (is this necessary?) and fill in the gaps it should be fine. However, I'm not sure what the best way to fill is - do I sweep in or get on my knees with a trowel, and should I buy ready-made jointing compound or just mix up some sand and cement?
And is the process for the front any different? Will pressure washing have the slabs looking right again (remove the sand/stains/light colour) and get the joints looking uniform again?
Thanks
[GALLERY=album, 27844][/GALLERY]
The front drive he also pressure washed. This knocked out some of the existing pointing. Then, without waiting for it to dry or manually removing the rest of the old pointing, he swept in a mix of sand and cement. The result is pretty ugly - it all looks light and sandy, the jointing is not a uniform colour (the sand/cement was not mixed properly, and there is some of the old pointing remaining), the sand seems to have stained the slabs, weeds are back within months, and there was sand coming off of everyone's shoes for weeks. It also doesn't seem as structurally sound as it was before he wrecked it.
The contractor is now out of the picture, and I learned my lesson about hiring people. I now have time to fix this mess. What should I do? The back patio has joints up to 2cm wide and a few mm deep, and the front crazy paving has gaps up to 10cm wide. I think the back should be ok because all he did was pressure wash it - so if I just pressure wash it again, dig out all the old pointing (is this necessary?) and fill in the gaps it should be fine. However, I'm not sure what the best way to fill is - do I sweep in or get on my knees with a trowel, and should I buy ready-made jointing compound or just mix up some sand and cement?
And is the process for the front any different? Will pressure washing have the slabs looking right again (remove the sand/stains/light colour) and get the joints looking uniform again?
Thanks
[GALLERY=album, 27844][/GALLERY]