Do I need to remove river sand before using polymeric sand?
Contractors sometimes use loose river sand instead of bonding agents between pavers, which washes away and risks the stability of the patio. If you need to replace it with polymeric sand or repair washed-out joints, you have to figure out whether all the existing river sand needs to be completely dug out first.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Asking the contractor about the material used
- 2Buying polymeric sand to apply independently
- 3Buying and spreading polymeric sand into the cracks, sweeping it in with a stiff broom, and lightly spraying it with water to harden in place.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“If I was to put the polymeric sand down myself, do I need to get rid of all of the river sand first?”source ↗
“It came out very nice, but it looks like they used river sand as the paver joint.”source ↗
“The contractor said that it was more than likely used for water drainage, but that doesn’t make sense to me because river sand will never bond and will just wash away.”source ↗
“Should river sand have been used for this, and if not, what would be the right paver joint to utilize?”source ↗
“I power washed my backyard patio today and realized afterward that I got a little too aggressive in a few spots and washed out quite a bit of the dirt/sand from between some of the pavers.”source ↗
“In a couple areas, the gaps are actually pretty deep now”source ↗
“I’m assuming I probably shouldn’t just leave it like this since I’m worried the missing material could eventually affect the stability of the pavers or cause them to shift.”source ↗