New Patio Pointing Cracked: How long should it last?
If you have recently finished a patio and the pointing has cracked, there can be many reasons for it.
Cracks in the pointing of a recently laid patio may occur because the base on which the patio has been laid is not appropriate, slab movement, pointing dried out too quickly, ground heave and walking on the patio before giving a chance to the mortar below to dry.
Walking Too Early on Patio
Walking on a recently laid and pointed patio too soon even before giving them time to the base to dry out can result in the movement of slabs creating the cracks in pointing.
Once the patio is laid and pointed, you should not walk on it for a minimum of 24 hours. In cold conditions when it will take much longer for the base to get hard and strong, you may need to wait for a couple of days to walk on it.
Pointing Dried Too Quickly
In hot conditions, the pointed mortar may dry up too quickly. This also takes out the moisture too quickly from the mortar.
If the pointing dried out too quickly than it usually does, it can weaken the strength of the mortar which can cause cracks in the pointing.
The solution to this is to point the patio at the time of the day when it isn’t too hot.
Ground Heave
Possibly, ground heave could be the thing that has caused the cracks in the pointing of your patio.
If the soil underneath the patio is clayey, you can notice the effects of ground heave. The soil expands when wet and push or move the ground upwards lifting some of the patio slabs with it causing the pointing to crack.
The solution to prevent your patio on clayey soil from heaving is preparing the correct base. If the patio is to be laid on clayey soil, it’s recommended to lay it on a concrete base to prevent them from the movement caused by ground heave.
Patio Bed
It’s best to lay a patio on a full mortar bed instead of other ways like dot and dab or spot beds for many reasons.
If your patio has been laid on spot bed method instead of full bed (few spots of mortar below the slab instead of the full area covered with mortar), the water can sit there, and in colder conditions, it can freeze. This can lift the slabs and force the pointing to crack.
Slab Movement
There can be other things that can cause the movement in the slabs other than the ones that we saw (ground heave, walking on the slabs before too early) which cracks the pointing.
When preparing the base for the patio, using less hardcore materials and not compacting it enough or using an insufficient amount of mortar to lay the slabs can create movement in the slabs.
The pointing will keep cracking or popping up whenever there is a movement in the slabs.
How Long Should Patio Pointing Last?
There are different methods or we can say different products that have their own application method for pointing patios. For example, patios can be pointed with traditional mortar made from sand and cement using a trowel or with brush-in jointing compounds just by sweeping the compounds in the patio joints.
Pointing a patio using typical sand and cement mortar can last up to a decade if done properly. Whereas, the ready to use pointing solutions like ready-mix mortar or brush-in jointing compound can also last as long as the sand and cement mortar.
Sand & Cement Mortar
Many people still use traditional mortar made by mixing sand and cement in a ratio. I’ve seen people who’ve pointed their patios with sand and cement over 12 years now, the pointing is still hard and solid.
Pointing a patio with traditional mortar, you need to get the mixture correct in order for the pointing to last. Thus, there’s this little tweak here to get the mixture right in making traditional mortar over using other ready to use pointing products. A wrong mixture like using too much sand or not mixing up the mixture properly can make the pointing crack.
Apart from what you use to point the patios, a lot depends on how the patio is pointed. In the last article that I wrote, I mentioned that there’re a hundred ways to point patios if we take everything into account. Some people take their own time to do everything properly which results in the pointing to last for years and years to come.
If you’ve used ready-mix mortar to point your patio, there’s no chance that you have got the mixture wrong because you just need to add the water, everything is already mixed.
Brush-in Jointing Compounds
Many professionals prefer brush-in jointing compounds for pointing like EasyJoint for multiple reasons, and it’s truly an advanced way to point the patios.
Haven’t seen anyone compressing brush-in jointing compounds like EasyJoint the sweep-in step, and it’s also not compulsory though but compressing the EasyJoint or other brush-in jointing compounds after sweeping them into the joints of the patio as we do it with the traditional sand and cement mortar can lead them to go more deeper into the joints, which can increase the life of pointing.
When cleaning a patio that has been pointed with EasyJoint, it’s recommended not to use the cleaners with degreasing agents because of the plant oil present in the EasyJoint jointing compound.
When you point a patio, it’s recommended that you should not get into cleaning it at least before a month apart from cleaning the excess grout or mortar and stains left after pointing.