Broken patio slab paving

[anto]

I have any area at the back of my house of broken slab paving.
Its been down probably 30years and since I have owned the house it has been a constant battle keeping the weeds away from it. This is mainly down to the concrete joins basically disappearing and allowing soil to take its place.
I gave it a thorough power hosing yesterday which has now left voids where there was once loose concrete, weed roots and soil.

What is the best way to fill these voids?

I had thought of mixing a really runny mix of sand cement and grouting the area similar to how a tiler would grout tiles?

A colleague had suggested brushing in a dry cement mix to fill the voids and then watering it to set it?

I am not too worried about the overall look of the area as il be extending the house eventually and itl be getting lifted.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Anton

 

[cumbriasteve]

It will only be a success if the paving has no movement, if it does the infill will become loose and you will be back to square one.

Dry mix watered is not in my opinion much good and is an easy fix method with doubtful results long term, although the idea is not to water it in, you soak the area..especially the joints and when the top surface is dry you brush the dry mix in and it pulls the water up from below to set itself.

A good mix with some bonding agent, put in position on a cool day and dampened for the next few days to achieve maximum adhesion and strength has always worked best for me.

 

[anto]

The slabs are still solid as they sit and it isn't an area that gets heavy footfall.

So a wet mix would be the better option?

 

[cumbriasteve]

A damp mix....In my opinion it would, pressed well in and finished with a pointing tool...bit of round bar/pipe/heavy hosepipe/anything round and the right size to press it down and leave a slightly concave finish.

 

[Onoff]

Get one of these, very good IMHO.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p91246

Or make one............I've an old, all metal Kemfix gun from years back I reckon is ripe for "conversion"!

 

[God mode restorations]

I used to be a groundworker mainly road construction and remedial works.the best way I found was to mix pure sement with water so it's a grout mix and pour it in where you want it..it goes very hard and gets into all the places you wouldn't normally get..it have used this method on 10x5 road curbs that have rocked and came loose. .never had a problem. ..

 

[anto]

I used to be a groundworker mainly road construction and remedial works.the best way I found was to mix pure sement with water so it's a grout mix and pour it in where you want it..it goes very hard and gets into all the places you wouldn't normally get..it have used this method on 10x5 road curbs that have rocked and came loose. .never had a problem. ..

I might fill a few of the voids with your suggestion to see how it turns out as a test as I have a little 1/4 bag of cement left over.
Not the most economical way of doing it but for the small area I have it may do the job.

 

[Rocketman]

Cement by itself is very weak but if it's temporary it doesn't really matter I suppose.

Dark art concrete and mortar.

 

[I'm getting on a bit]

Cement by itself is very weak but if it's temporary it doesn't really matter I suppose.

Dark art concrete and mortar.

Also cracks easily

Using a plaster mixer /whisk

Mix dry sand with cement in bulk at your chosen ratio

Then mix plasticer and water at your chosen ratio

Then mix small quantities wet enough that a trowel will put a sheen on it but dry enough that it will not stain the paving when you drop bits trial and error

You can only do this with a paddle mixer for it to be successful

 

[waldershelf]

I had a similar problem where a flagged path meets my patio, I end up digging out the weeds and crumbled mortar every couple of years. I was going to fill it with sand/cement (again) but I ran out of cement the day I wanted to do the job but I did have some grey grout powder left over from tiling the kitchen floor. it has set like bell metal no weeds have got thought it and it has not shown any sign of cracking.

 

[God mode restorations]

There are many methods to do the job..I guess it's what works best with what you have..It was a method I used very successfully over 30 years of groundwork. .and on new build patios that are notorious for rocking paving slabs..