Why is it so hard to sweep sand into joints of newly-installed pavers

htabbas

I was using the Mason sands trying to sweep them into the newly installed interlocker pavers (~800 sq-ft) in my backyard.

I spent about 4 hours dry sweeping sand into cracks and then use water to rinse the remaining sand into the cracks. When things are dried, I used the compacting plate but immediately the sand in the cracks went down.

I did this cycles twice already but after the 2nd compacting, the sand level is only like 60% full. And there are still occasional cracks that has less than 30% of sand filled. This process seems taking forever. I wasn't expecting to spend so much time in sweeping the sand. I thought it was only a couple of hours of work.

Something is wrong with my process? Thanks!

concretemasonry

The water you applied could have been the problem, since the sand cannot move as well when it is damp.

Usually, a thin (1/4" maximum) layer of sand is applied, and then everything vibrated. A second trial after the first compaction is frequently disturbed with a broom and then a second vibration is done, followed by a sweeping to clean up.

Dick

I assume you had a 1" thick uncompacted DRY concrete sand setting base and the interlocking concrete pavers were set with tight joints. A solid, compacted base or some polymeric sands came be problems.

The setting bed is slightly coarser than the mason sand suggested, but the setting bed sand usually drawn up into the joints as pavers are leveled and vibrated.

htabbas

I have 4" copacted road base (3/4-minus) + 1" uncompacted concrete sand beneath the pavers. But the concrete sand came slightly wet so I am not sure whether that will conctribute to this issue.

Oh, when compacting the pavers, I have to use a little bit water to keep the dust level low. (or else, my neighbors will probably go crazy.) Maybe that contributes to the issue?