[tstex]

Hello to all,

All of the original wood that was in the expansion joints of double and single concrete driveways and pea-gravel side walk has rotted and is gone. We have about 80-95ft of empty joints to fill.

Looking for cost-effective options to fill the joints? I had some pieces of a trex deck leftover, ripped one piece and used the rounded edges to fill in a small area in the back. Looks great but that is very expensive.

thank you in-advance for your suggestions,
tstex

 

[ront02769]

Stuff in foam backer rod first and follow up with sikaflex which you should be able to get at Lowe’s.

 

[tstex]

Thanks Ron.

Some of the joints are real deep (2").

I'm contemplating ripping 10' or 12' treated 1x4's and using my rubber mallet to pound in the strips. Thoughts ?

 

[de-nagorg]

My local BOX store has Quikrete expansion joint material,

1/2 X4 " x 4' long, this might be too thin, if Trex fills the gap.

And it does cost a bit, but it don't rot.

And your pad should be at least 4" thick, so are you sure that all the old wood is gone?

just putting anything on top of rotting wood, will rot the new, much faster than you want.

Maybe cedar, or redwood 1X are in your price range, they are resistant naturally.

Cyprus is even better but too costly.



ED

 

[Bondo]

I'm contemplating ripping 10' or 12' treated 1x4's and using my rubber mallet to pound in the strips. Thoughts ?

Ayuh,.... That would make it to hard for the slabs to expand in summer's heat,.....

Pour in some sand, then do as Ron suggests,....

 

[3onthetree]

So its 3/4" wide, not 1 1/2" wide?

+1 on the sand and self-leveling polyurethane

 

[tstex]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

The e-joints seem to be 3/4" +/- 1/16 - 1/8. The wood is gone bc in some places it's only soil/mud.

There's a grout like outdoor material that is light gray. It says to put sand down first, compact, then put the grout down and compact. It's weed resistant and mold resistant. It's used btw pavers but joints have to be 1/4" or greater. I'll look up info and post.

Either way, with varying widths, I believe and fixed material (wood) will be too tight or a little loose. The flexible materials seem to be a better fit

I'll post some pics when the cars are off the driveway / thx again

 

[stadry]

/ this is essentially how many state dot's also do the work - no wood is acceptable for joint sealing/filling - it was used at 1 time due to lack of understanding how conc highways worked & rarely as an aesthetic material
we did miles of conc hgwys this same way

 

[stadry]

conc expands/contracts in reaction to temps,,, when its hot, conc gets bigger & joints close up,,, when its cold, conc shrinks & joints widen,,, that's why we use sealants ! they can still perform well during/under the compression/expansion,,, wood can't nor can sand,,, IF you must fill w/something, use vermiculite

 

[tstex]

conc expands/contracts in reaction to temps,,, when its hot, conc gets bigger & joints close up,,, when its cold, conc shrinks & joints widen,,, that's why we use sealants ! they can still perform well during/under the compression/expansion,,, wood can't nor can sand,,, IF you must fill w/something, use vermiculite

Thanks Stadry - Well I certainly agree with that...when it heats up here in summer, it gets hot. I have not seen it in a while, but the concrete streets used to buckle in the heat of the summer...the asphalt used to get so hot that the kickstands on bikes would start to go into the asphalt and eventually the bike would fall...that was a LONG time ago...

I'm going to get those styrofoam rods, then add the appropriate caulk.

I really appreciate everyone's help, tstex

 

[stadry]

remember 1 day when we were working in port jervis (ny) on a nysdot joint sealing project - conc slabs were 100' in length ( an OLD spec ),,, as a fuel oil truck drove along the 2la hgy, i slab buckled ( sounded like an explosion ) & drove itself up into the truck,,, what a mess !

 

[tstex]

All,

here's the product I am going to give a try. It is HP's NextGel Polymeric sand. It's good for 1/8 to 4" joints and expands and contracts w heat, cold and rain...I've enclosed a video on installation. I called their tech support in Canada and it's used for this application besides pavers and similar - let me know what you think? thanks tstex

 

[tstex]

All,

here's the product I am going to give a try. It is HP's NextGel Polymeric sand. It's good for 1/8 to 4" joints and expands and contracts w heat, cold and rain...I've enclosed a video on installation. I called their tech support in Canada and it's used for this application besides pavers and similar - let me know what you think? thanks tstex

 

[ront02769]

I thought you were doing control joints in sidewalks and driveway???? Foam backer and sikaflex.

 

[stadry]

what do i think ? of you ? or the method ? or material ? personally i think you're an idiot & cheap, too,,, i made a good living sealing joints/cracks for 10 years & so did the 10-15 men who worked with me,,, now, you, the ignorant diy'er who ask'd for advice, has a better idea ? f'n unbelievable !

 

[stadry]

mod - is this last post too harsh ? just askin'

 

[huesmann]

If you have to ask...