Brush-in Jointing Compound has Stained the Patio? (DO THIS)
Brush-in jointing compounds like EasyJoint, Joint-It, Pavetuf, Sika Fastfix, Weatherpoint 365 are becoming quite popular among professionals and DIYers because of their easy application.
No need to deal with mixing sand and cement to make traditional mortar and point joint by joint with a trowel breaking your back and knees is the best thing about these jointing compounds.
But sometimes, the easy way of doing things can result in headaches. I feel the same is the case with pointing a patio with jointing compound when you choose it over sand and cement mortar for easy application and no mess and it stains the slabs.
In fact, many people choose jointing compounds over traditional mortar because they don’t want to get into the danger of staining their patio as there’s no cement in the jointing compounds to stain the slabs.
Jointing compounds like EasyJoint, Joint-It, and Pavetuf can stain your patio if you don’t use enough water while application, and the residue like oil present inside these jointing compounds gets soaked by the slabs. It may fade up over time however, there’re some patio residue removers available on the market to take the oil out of the patio slabs.
I recommend you try out this grout/mortar residue remover from StoneCare4U in the first place. It’s the grout cleaner that is suitable for all types of surfaces from porcelain to all-natural stones and hopefully, it’ll get the grout stains off of your patio without trying too much of a stuff. You can get it from their website here.
Reasons Why Jointing Compound has Stained Your Patio
Some patio materials like sandstone and limestone are very porous, which means they’re much more likely to suck whatever comes to them. Hence, they are much easier to get stained and because the jointing compounds contain oil, there’s a chance that the slabs may soak the oil from the jointing compound if you haven’t sealed your patio before pointing.
You may be thinking that you might have sealed the patio before using the jointing compound and many people think sealing before grouting prevents grouting stains whether it’s from sand and cement mortar or brush-in jointing compound. And that is true, sealing blocks the pores and will not allow the mortar or jointing compound to soak in and stain the slabs.
But sealing a patio, especially the porous slabs this early (before grouting) can cause bigger problems that are more complex to get rid of compared to the stains from grouting. You can read this article to know what exactly happens if you seal a patio before pointing and much more.
Keeping the surface wet as much as you can and brushing it quickly into the joints is the common thing that you’ll find in every jointing compound tutorial because it’s important otherwise you’ll run into problems.
The water acts like a temporary sealer that goes into the pores itself not allowing other things from the jointing compound to enter which prevents staining hence, the slabs must be wet throughout the process, especially in the heat, slabs dry up immediately.
At the same time, you also have to be quick with brushing so, it’s really a job for 2 persons to do it conveniently and prevent the risk of staining.
Taking the excess jointing compound off of the patio by going over with a brush again before letting it and the surface dry is also crucial.
How to get rid of Jointing Compound Stains from Your Patio
I saw many people saying that the oil stains will fade and disappear over time when responding to a person whose patio had been stained with EasyJoint. It may take 6 months to a year for the residues like oil stains to get out of the slabs.
There’re products on the market for residue removal but there’s no guarantee that they will 100% work. You can try one of them if you want to get the stains out early and if you’re lucky enough, it can remove the stains from the slabs but as I said the chances are fifty-fifty.
One thing to remember here is to try not to go very harsh and use acid-based cleaners or keep trying using different cleaners until you find the one that works because it can permanently ruin the slabs.
As said already, I recommend you try out this grout/mortar residue remover from StoneCare4U in the first place. It’s the grout cleaner that is suitable for all types of surfaces from porcelain to all-natural stones to get the grout stains off. You can get it from their website here.