Best way to remove loose sand from block paving?

[AC43]

Hi All,

On Saturday I cleaned my block paving drive with a pressure washer and on Sunday I re-sanded it. So now it looks good in that the blocks are clean and all the joints are filled. But it's covered in a layer of loose sand.

My main question is how to get rid of the loose sand without brushing sand back out of the joints? Clearly, if I'm going to brush it off I'll need a very soft brush. Or should I just leave if for a few days and let it disperse on it's own accord? Or maybe blow it off using a leaf blower?

Once that's done, I'll give it a good coating with a sealant; just need to get rid of the loose sand first.

[MattyD803]

The wind/rain will do this for you over the course of the next couple of days....

[AC43]

MattyD803 said:

The wind/rain will do this for you over the course of the next couple of days....

True.....

Although I found another solution; I set my lead blower to minimum and that was enough to blow dry sand off the surface without disturbing the stuff in the joints.

Before it started raining.....

Now the process is on pause. Oh well.

[AC43]

fk this annoying. I blew most of the excess away then spent ages hand brushing any remaining excess off the brick faces. Every thing was looking perfect and ready for sealing tomorrow.

And now some biblical rain. FFS! It will make a right mess of the joints and I'll have to go back over everything again. Even more annoying is that I've had the place to myself since Saturday and wanted to get it all done before my OH gets back on Friday.

fking British weather.....

[AC43]

fk me back to square one.

The torrential rain has blasted load of sand back out of all the joints and now there's a thick layer of sand all over all the bricks. Again.

The prep was 100% done and ready for a couple of thick coats of sealant.

Now I'll have to re-sand it and re-clear all the loose stuff before I can finally seal the sodding thing.

[Steve Campbell]

Just brush it.....how many m2 is it ?

[fttm]

Leaf blower ?

[gmaz]

Brush it into the joints, then use a very fine spray on a hose pipe to soak it in without splashing.

[AC43]

Steve Campbell said:

Just brush it.....how many m2 is it ?

It's not huge. I went out yesterday and bought the softest brush I could find at Wickes to take all loose stuff off which worked OK. Still took a bit out of some of the joints which I'm trying to avoid.

TBH I was also trying not to buy yet another thing to stash in my shed.

[AC43]

fttm said:

Leaf blower ?

Yes, that did work pretty well when I ran it on minimum - takes maybe 80% of the loose stuff off without disturbing the stuff in the joints.

[AC43]

gmaz said:

Brush it into the joints, then use a very fine spray on a hose pipe to soak it in without splashing.

Thanks I'll try that.

[AC43]

I guess my real frustration is of having got it exactly as I wanted before sealing it then not being able to touch it for a few days then that biblical rain yesterday. And more as I write this. Horrible weather for May in the SE.

Anyway, I've decided to finish it in sections. I'll brush a bit more sand in tomorrow or Saturday, use the leaf blower to get rid of the worst of the excess, finish off by hand and get a couple of coats of sealant on it. Then rinse and repeat.

[AC43]

Now there's a hailstorm. For the record, I started this job on Saturday in glorious sunshine.

[Bluevanman]

I've had block paving for 25 years and pressure wash it and re-sand it every year.
I've never used anything other than a yard brush,never had any issues disturbing the joints,god knows what you're doing lol

[bimsb6]

AC43 said:

Now there's a hailstorm. For the record, I started this job on Saturday in glorious sunshine.

Wait until my team of ants turn up!

[timberman]

Bluevanman said:

I've had block paving for 25 years and pressure wash it and re-sand it every year.
I've never used anything other than a yard brush,never had any issues disturbing the joints,god knows what you're doing lol

same here

[eein]

You just brush, but the trick is to sweep at 45 degrees to the brick join lines. Same as you do for sponging grout when tiling.

I've put sealant on when there's still a tiny bit of sand and it's fine.

[Chimune]

<Viz mode> get some lint rollers from IKEA. Remove sand from paving and store the used papers for later use as rudimentary sandpaper<\Viz mode>

[Portofino]

Just to add, sealing is a waste of time IME. Very disappointed with it 2 months later.

[xx99xx]

timberman said:

Bluevanman said:

I've had block paving for 25 years and pressure wash it and re-sand it every year.
I've never used anything other than a yard brush,never had any issues disturbing the joints,god knows what you're doing lol

same here

And here. Except for the cleaning every year bit! Every 3 or 4 years for me.