Polymeric sand in cold weather! Creative solutions to helping it cure?

Submitted ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Synthead@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/a16b9b76-924d-4629-998d-a5d8a576323a.png

I am about finished with an 8 ft x 13 ft patio, and the plan is to bond the pavers with polymeric sand. It’s just starting to get down to freezing temps overnight, and I’m willing to take some chances with some creative solutions to cure the sand before it gets even cooler.

I understand that this is generally a bad idea, but here’s my dumb plan: my patio is small enough to where I can cover it with a tarp like a tent, and I can leave a space heater in there overnight so that the sand is exposed to warm air. I am personally convinced that it’s stupid enough to just work. Is this a terrible idea?

I also had the thought of bringing hot water out in a watering can from my bathtub. I needed to tamp the gravel that froze at one point, so I already did this, and was able to cover the whole area in about 5 trips or so. My only concern is that this is not a conventional way to set the sand, and am concerned that the hot water would flush the polymers right out of the sand without having an opportunity to cure.

What are your thoughts? I’m willing to take silly risks on this :) Worst case scenario, I get expensive regular sand, right? That’s not so bad ;)

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CharlesMangione@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m gonna be honest, it sounds like a bad idea. Disclaimer, i’ve never worked with this, but just describing your problem it sounds like you’re going to run into ground temperature even if you manage to get the air temperature warm enough to set.

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- Synthead@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah… this is my inner voice, too. I’m kinda thinking that I should just sweep utility sand into the pavers and not worry too much about the polymeric stuff. Honestly, the only reason why I’m thinking of poly sand is because I’m kinda thinking that the pavers would stand up better to legs of outdoor furniture. Although, perhaps if I work enough utility sand into the pavers with lots of tamping and brushing, it shouldn’t be a big deal? I mean, it’s not like all patios done right without poly sand are failing.
  
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  - ReignOfTerror@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The biggest plus of polymeric sand over the utility sand would be that the utility sand will eventually grow weeds, where the polymeric won’t. Do you want to be trying to kill weeds every year? If not, cover the patio with a tarp for the winter and use the polymeric next spring.
    
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eran_morad@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
You gon start a fire

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rbn@feddit.ch ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Check out… lawnsite.com/…/polysand-in-the-winter.485549/

Especicially watering it sounds like a really bad idea.

Why not just wait until late spring?

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- Synthead@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah, it does sound like a bad idea, and I’m thinking more and more that I should just sweep utility sand between the pavers instead and call it a day.
  
  Why not just wait until late spring?
  
  The only reason I’m trying to get ahead of this now (instead of waiting for warmer weather) is because I’m building a structure around the patio that will make it difficult to sweep or blow off the sand as it cures. It’ll probably get everywhere and get nasty.
  
  Although, it’ll be a covered area too, so perhaps the advantages of the poly sand are marginal. There won’t be any weed or moss issues, and it won’t be exposed to weather basically ever. So perhaps I just shouldn’t bother and sweep regular sand in. The benefits of poly sand probably isn’t worth the very real risk of making my patio really nasty.
  
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Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Look I know everyone is saying don’t but I think you can do it pretty easily. So I have seen masons do brick and stone facades in the middle of winter. They had concrete blankets and diesel heaters. It worked just fine. I would get two tarps and a blanket and build a little tent with tarp, blanket, tarp. Then put a little electric heater in there. Newer electric heaters are much safer than the old ones with the ones exposed resistance elements. Just think you don’t have to get it really hot. Not like it is going to catch fire until a few hundred degrees as long as the heater is not touching the tarp there is no real chance of that happening. Plus if it is just barely freezing at night then it really just needs to really work for a few hours.

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- Synthead@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You know what?? I figured that I miss all the shots I don’t take, and thought I’d give it a try. I built a makeshift tent from two tarps and a steel tamper and a handtruck held down with buckets of water. I have an automated home, so I put one of the temperature/humidity sensors out there and hung in the lower area of the tent with a coat hanger. I set the space heater on a couple bricks, and fired it up.
  
  The results? It’s currently sitting at 65F with 43% humidity, which is less than inside our home. I’ll have a graph of the temperature and humidity all throughout the night, but this is hotter and drier than a summer night! And it’s in the 30s outside!
  
  So yeah, this is going to work great. I’m letting the pavers warm up and dry out overnight, then sometime midday, I’m definitely doing the poly sand. I’ll make sure I get it cleaned up and ready to leave alone, then I’ll cover it just like I did. Seriously, this is going to work better than waiting for the spring.
  
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  - Synthead@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Update: this is working awesome!
    
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