How to Prevent and Treat Weeds on Your Masonry Patio

There is nothing like a clean, well-maintained masonry patio, particularly now as warmer weather has arrived in Indiana. Brick pavers offer a uniformity and classic aesthetic appeal, as well as durability, color integrity and low maintenance. However, patio pavers often raise one concern: weeds. Weeds can sometimes take hold between the joints of patio pavers. This blog post offers some preventative measures and treatments to help you avoid or eliminate this problem.

Preventative Measures

Mortar Joints

The first thing to note, when it comes to this issue, is the difference between pavers with sand joints and pavers with mortar joints. Generally speaking, weed growth is a more pervasive issue with sand joints than mortar joints. When properly set and maintained, the mortar prevents weeds from creeping through the cracks. If mortar joints experience severe wear and cracking, weeds can pop up through the joints. However, left unchecked, weeds can easily take over sand-jointed pavers. For this reason among others, Brick + Ember Outfitters highly recommends opting for mortar over sand for your masonry patio. You can read more about the benefits of mortar joints here, and we’d be happy to talk over your options with you anytime.

Polymeric Jointing Sand

If you very much want a sand-jointed masonry patio, using polymeric jointing sand is a helpful preventative measure. Polymeric sand is a mix of graded sand and binders that claims to stabilize and fast set to be water resistant after installation. Because of this, polymeric sand inhibits weed growth for far longer than other jointing sands.

Treatment Methods

If weeds have already invaded your patio pavers, you are in need of an effective treatment. Because these weeds have deep roots under the pavers, unfortunately you can not simply pry them out with a weeding fork—they will return with a vengeance.

You can, of course, opt for a commercial weed killer to tackle your problems. However, if you’re looking for something chemical-free there are other options. Many people have found success treating weeds with boiling water or vinegar. Once you’ve applied the treatment to your pavers, go in with a weed cutting tool that can navigate the cracks between the pavers and remove the leaves and roots of the plants.

Hopefully these tips will help you keep your masonry patio from becoming overgrown. There is perhaps nothing more frustrating than spending hours toiling on your knees to get rid of those weeds only to see them spring back up in a week. Use these preventative measures and treatments to enjoy a beautiful, weed-free masonry patio!