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Me too, that way when I call a handyman (which I eventually do after watching all the videos) I can give him a lot of expert advice and sound smart doing so 😃
It’s weird, I get grass where I don’t want it and weeds where I want grass. It’s like hair, I get hair in my nose and ears where I don’t want it and I’m going bald on my head where I do want it, crazy!
Since I am lazy, I just pour boiling water on the weeds. If you hit them early in the season, the weeds won't come back. I also do this method to remove the weeds from the patio. In a couple of days the weeds are dead and they can be broomed away. Also, environmentally cleaner than herbicides.
I'd rather do almost any method versus putting an unsightly sealant on my driveways expansion joints. That solution he showed won't last all that long. The homeowner who tries it will be right back at square one within a few years, but also have a mass of unsightly gunk in their joints.
@@MrVvulfIf it's polyurethane, which I believe Sika is, he will be fine. I did a ton of it on a valet parking drive way where hundreds drive over daily and it gets rain and sun. 5 years later still looks new
As an Engineer - I'd like to give some advice: Foam is great and I am all for sealing expansion joints. I want to suggest you find 'Polysulphide' sealant (not easy to find). The preference for polysulphide is that it has a 'garlic' type smell which keeps insects away. . Insects tend to find a gap in your expansion joint sealant and love to dig under the sealant and concrete itself and create the gap for weeds to come back.
Well I am not a perfectionist, even though this seems like a good idea to me it seems like a lot of tedious work and very OCD to me...I have OCD but this is not where I would chose to spend my OCD time! Ha, Ha,! But if you find this video helpful, good on you and enjoy the pristine look. thank you for making this video, it was interesting! 🥰
Good tips. Some fleshy noxious weeds can cause eye or skin irritation, and they can be killed by pouring boiling water on them, without touching them or using strong chemicals
Rather than release all the irritating chemicals into the air while I'm next to it, you can grab a cup of road salt, dissolve it in a little bit of water, and pour it over. Just be aware that nothing will ever grow there again. Don't go too buckwild with this though, salt is very bad for your local waterways. Nearby ponds and lakes really feel the effects and turn into gross, green, slimy algae blooms - some of them generating neurotoxins.
Really nice job. I was going to do this a few years ago on one of my homes, and replace the ghastly wood trim the previous owner had jammed in the joint. I like the sand touch, too. Thanks for the visuals on what it would have looked like had I done it. I still have the products with me.
I have a slate paver patio 15' x 20' and have made numerous attempts to keep the joints clean and clear. But after spending way too much time and money doing so, I now just let the vegetation grow (except the dandelions) and keep it trimmed down. It actually looks really nice, takes minimal time and effort and blends in nicely with the rest of my natural backyard.
Recycling plastic bags and turn them into plastic ropes, I filled those gaps with the plastic ropes, and then I used my heat gun to melt the plastic ropes to seal it.
I used that a couple years ago on all the relief cuts and cracks. Sika is the mfr. It works great. It also is an inhibitor of ants. They use those cracks as a highway to the home.
Self leveling caulk does tend to bubble if you try to fill too deep of an area or you trap air below it. That's why you need backer rods and the backer rod needs to fit tightly in the gap.
Dear Scott, from personal experience, I have found a curved linoleum knife to be a very handy tool for clearing out the grass, weeds, etc. from those expansion joints and other concrete cracks, and for the most part does a much neater, easier job than any screwdriver. The hook part of the knife pulls a great deal out of those cracks. Your hose nozzle follow-up though, is excellent. Have a good day.
Permanent fix = Find a way to put a tiny strip of zinc in the cracks, the entire length. Zinc changes the alkalinity of rain water or any water and will not allow plant life to grow. This is old knowledge we some how forgot. I got it from tour guide, who was explaining the ornate features on the roof of the Biltmore Estate ( Vanderbilt Home in Asheville North Carolina)
I did the self leveling about 3 years ago. I had to pull out 1 weed recently since. Works great. I do have to bleach it once in a while because mildew grows on it.
Huh! Brilliant. So do you remove the weeds and dirt like in this video, or just sprinkle the salt directly onto the weeds in the cracks? (I am brand new to this.)
@@ahill4642 : I'm lazy. I salt in the spring, before the plants take hold. I have used it at the fence line because of neighbour weeds, the edge of the driveway, around the shed on a stone base and killed a cut down tree with a salt pile on the stump. Another weed killer is spray a mixture of vinegar, water and a bit of dish soap, spray it on leaves. For some weeds that are being difficult, a propane torch works. Just enough to singe the leaves, no need to burn them.
You could skip couple of labor intensive steps by using a 3,000 psi power washer and blast everything out all at once in the cracks/control joints. The self leveling filler for cracks works pretty good for indoors like in my garage but it only lasted couple years for the driveway and sidewalks. I had an extra bag of stucco mix just to try it out by chance, not 100% but so far held up pretty good after couple of years. Much easier to use and cheaper.
+2 on the PW. Let dry and use a compressor and air nozzle or a shop vac blower if you really want to go nuts. For an outdoor application like this, especially on a driveway in full sun, like a roof shingle, gravel would give protection from the UV degradation. Get some small fish tank gravel and gently pack it in on top. Do a short run, gravel it, and continue. Gravel needs to go on right away before the filler skins over. Might be cool to do it with colored fish gravel or fish tank glass gravel. Or even glow in the dark/ reflective gravel!
Affter you fill the crack with caulk, you can cap it with fine sand while it is still wet and that will act as a sunscreen after it has been dried and the excess brushed off. Nice look also. Gives you longer life of the caulk.
I use my pressure washer to get grass and weeds out of the cracks. It blows out grass, dirt, roots and all in just a few minutes (no digging with a screw driver!) but this only last a couple months or so until the grass comes back. I like the idea of the backer rod with sealant. I'll definitely be trying this!
50 years ago my dad put something black in the cracks, possibly tar of some sort, and one year later we kids were instructed to dig it all back out as it was bubbling up from the heat of the sun and making a huge sticky mess.
Ten years ago you could buy a butyl caulk to fill the joints and it lasted more than ten years-able to expand and contract. The self-leveling material dries hard and cracks and lasts less than a year I've found.
I used a whole case of NovaLink SL then also 3 tubes of Sika SL, both are holding up equally as well. I had so much to fill because it's a large patio / driveway combo. The Sika NON self leveling I tried for 2 small areas was awful and fell apart within a year though. So, I think the Sika self leveling is in fact great quality.
For cracks in my concrete stairs I used OSI siding sealant I had a tube of just for kicks, set in the sun for a few hours then spread it with a putty knife and my spit to smooth it out, 2 years so far and the Bear concrete paint I used afterwards still looks great.
I use boiling water on my brick paver driveway when the weeds are still small. Unfortunately, they do come back in other spots but it’s cost efficient. I think sprinkling salt in the cracks would also work as long as it doesn’t all get washed away. Another option is using sand that sets hard like concrete.
I've used sand for a few seasons now - just regular ol play sand - after cleaning out the cracks and, although it doesn't necessarily prevent any weeds from growing again, it does make it VERY easy to pull them in the future AND it's also entirely natural, without using any weed-killer poisons in & around my yard.
Salt makes most concretes spar, so you don't want to do that unless it's specifically made for salt exposure. Northern driveways are more likely to have admixtures to handle salt (freezing weather and salt for ice are more common), but in the South...nope.
@@chairmanofthebored8684 Quite to the contrary. There are cracks in my concrete driveway and some tiny green plants will grow in them and they do not bother me whatsoever. If they want to grow in such marginal conditions I can live with them and I do not have to dominate and control every square inch of my lot with poisons and carcinogenic compounds to keep the place where I park my car free of all forms of life. The difficulties must come for people like you who will get cancer in a few years from now and can't imagine how they got it.... The tiny plants will grow back in defiance of your best efforts that in the end will prove to be self destructive . I have bigger fish to fry than to worry about a trace of green life in such a inconsequential place. I actually feel sorry for you.
I’m at my wits end I could never find how to outwit Mother Nature those weeds don’t quit. I can’t bend anymore so I use roundup it gives me a break for a while at least. ❤❤thanks for video it’s useful.
Better is to use Polymeric Sand, or stuff used for filling joints of brick patio. It fills and stays firm, and self adjusts when it gets damp. That silicone caulking tends to shink and come out after a few years.
That's not silicone caulk he is using. It's called sika flex and it's a polyurethane product that's made specifically for sealing concrete joints. It has held up in my driveway almost 20 years now. It's pricey but an excellent product.
Tried everything including a product that “set” like concrete that cost €50 per tub…beyond useless, the weeds & grasses came back …tried the Vinegar, salt & dish soap …again weeds came back within 1 week, just a nightmare!
Tell her that every time she make you do something on a Saturday, that she would have to make you a sandwich. Let's see how that works.... *"You've been thrown out of the house"*
YES! Backer rod and outdoor leveling caulk is the best solution for those joints. I installed it like this for years, except I used a power washer to clean out the joints. You wanna talk about mud spray back?! If you do it right though, it’ll last as long as the driveway.
Scott, what you are doing is 99.9% accurate. However I didn’t heard why you used the backer rod. Myself I know and if you don’t mind I’ll explain. For the adhesive in this case driveway sealant to stay in place you must make the surface you are attaching to twice the surface area as the width of the cavity you are filling! So if the width of our cavity (joint) is one half inch wide then you should clear out the debris to a minimum of an inch deep! Once done I would use a wire brush to really clean both sides of the joint the power wash out remains debris! Let dry as you describe but myself I’d try and find a compatible primer and I’m not sure what Sikaflex recommends but I’m sure Sikaflex will do fine with or without primer on most porous surfaces! So now the joint is clean and dry….. time to add the backer rod! To install the backer rod you must keep in mind the width of the joint…… so if the joint is one half inch wide then use a half inch close-cell backer rod and push the backer rod so that the (top) rounded surface of the backer rod is slightly deeper then a quarter of an inch from the top surface of the concrete and once that’s done you’ll see that the backer rod automatically will be one half inch on the edge to be sealed!!! The quarter inch at the center of the joint will allow for the concrete to move with the joint’s expansion! Now after getting this written done I see that it’s is kind of wordy! However if you want this to be permanent (which is not possible) these are the precautions you will need to follow!!! I expect Sikaflex should last several years but nothing is permanent when dealing with concrete and the weather!
THANK YOU X3. I am literally driven mad by huge dandelions and weeds between paving stones installed by previous owners. I have a heat gun, a gouger type garden tool, gallons of vinegar and salt which only works temporarily, Round-Up which failed to work at all, but watching your video, purely by chance as I was looking at genealogy videos, it suddenly made sense. Block the critters, not keep dragging them out. When I get the items you suggested, I will drop you a line and tell you how it worked for me but common sense tells me it is going to work. I am 74 so it will be slow going as I cannot kneel and have to bend but I will do it, by hook or by crook! Oh the only thing I couldn't find on English Amazon was the self-levelling sealant but I will research as surely we must have that too. Did I say thank you lol?
In one joint in front of the garage I used old roofing shingles broken to about two and a half inches wide and stacked to width of joint and hammered into it. In the ten years since there has not been an issue.
Salt. I buy two 69 cent cartons of salt from the grocery store and pour it in along the crack and lightly spray it with the hose to melt it. No more weeds for a year or more. Ancient armies used to salt the earth of their enemy's land to keep their crops from growing. The process still works great. 😄
Doesn't salt destroy the integrity of the concrete? New concrete, especially. That's a large reason why road infrastructure is so horrible during and after the winter months up north. The salt gets wet as it melts the ice and works it's way down into the cracks, seeping little by little into the pores, eventually turning the concrete into a crumbled mess
I saw a paved walkway where the paving stones were arranged so that grass grew between them in a checker board design. The design looked really nice. Of course, that might work with a drive way or other places. Stepping on the uneven surfaces could cause a fall or twisted ankle.
The Sitka self leveling is a really great product. I did this to my driveway over a decade ago and it is still holding up and keeping weeds out of the cracks and providing a good seal. Highly recommended.
Prep concrete and stone with sealer. Commonly known as Waterglass. Sealing the mortar or porous material by "plasticizing" the contact surface adds longevity. On the ground...under 5 years in 4 season weather.
My husband and I have been tackling these weeds in expansion joints for 24 years! I am so going to show him this and ask to get this done! Thank you so much! Do you suggest preen first then the gap and sealer?
Residents in winter snow states have a trick for this. With leftover rock-salt after winter months, simply apply it all along sidewalk cracks--wherever weeds appear. Provided sidewalks don't get flooded regularly, one application will last through the summer. CAVEAT: You may want to reconsider this if you have pets and/or little children out 'n' about your property.
It doesn't work that long for me unfortunately so I've gone back to using those foaming sprays...cause rock salt gets expensive too. (I don't get flooding in my driveway so I don't think it's that though maybe it does work in drier winter snow states than mine. ??) May try Preen this year. Plus, the foaming sprays have to be stored inside overwinter because if they get exposed to the extreme cold temperatures in the garage they don't seem to work anymore.
Vinegar, boiling water, rock salt ... nothing has come close to solving the weed problems in my cracked driveway. At some point, I'll have to quit mowing my driveway, and dig out and replace all the old asphalt with new a$phalt.
I have put off weeding in my front patio. Rained gently last night, weeds better come out easy. If not, it is all.my fault. I love groomed yard. I have bag of Preen. Will do salt water on the bedding area next to the block wall dirt strip. Thank you!
Fill the gaps with a dry mixture of 1 part cement 4 parts polymeric sand. Then spray it with water. That should stop vegetation growth and still be flexible enough to handle the shifting of weights between concrete slabs.
Interesting idea but polymeric sand is not meant to be flexed and neither is Concrete. Your solution is basically just putting a hard substance between the expansion joints which defeats the purpose in the first place. Sika-flex is much more flexible and the best solution in this application.
I use my string trimmer on them and then spray grass killers to kill the roots I might have missed, works pretty well. Bleach also works well if you are just spot treating.
Did he mention sweeping up the debris on curb, that was hosed downstream toward neighbors and probably street drains? It could contain seeds and tiny live roots to blow about, petroleum products from driveway, the dirt from the emptied crack, any herbicide remnants. Just thinking of what I've seen in my neighborhood...
How lucky are you to live on such a quiet street. I think I only saw 1 car drive by during your timelapse. Also great suggestion with the backer rod. BONUS TIPS: #1: If you're in a rush & don't want to wait for the water to dry, you can either skip the water and use an air compressor to blow out the debris, or use the air compressor to blow away most of the water. Just make sure to wear eye protection and maybe a dust mask. #2: To ensure any remnant of weeds are fully gone, you could fill an old dish soap bottle with vinegar and squirt a gentle stream along the joints. If your joints are NOT on an incline (where any of the liquid could dribble down towards a sewer), then you can use some diluted bleach instead (which eventually breaks down to water and salt. Saome people say to use gasoline, but not only is that more expensive, but also harmful to the environment. #3: Another alternative for the caulk is to use expanding foam. There are specific types made exactly for this purpose.
yea no kidding, on my street if I start doing any project near the street, cars will be stopping, even parking to watch what I’m doing, or throw an occassional beer bottle at me. 😮
I have found that rock salt is good to preventvweeds from growing. I use the pourable tar solution but putting sand on top sounds like a good idea over black lines. 👍
I cleaned out the cracks in the concrete around a swimming pool like you did. Then I just use regular cheap clear silicone caulk. It's lasted ten years so far. No wear or lifting at all. And no weeds.
That stuff's a herbacide, same as RoundUp. I have a lot of people walking dogs on my sidewalk; I kinda cringe if they're near that chemical... I avoid salting my walks in the winter for the same reason
I'm super impressed that Sand was a great idea , you score a10 out of 10 in my book😊, I remember not wanting to try this because it wasn't going to match the rest of the concrete,, but now, I'm going to pick out some sand that matches my concrete. SUBSCRIBED!! This in itself is also a great new small business that I can also offer customers when I do lawn Care.😊
Scott, I first met you virtually on P24 years ago and never really made an effort to reach out to you (probably should have though)...since then I've been making videos on grass and weeds and lawn care for the last three years and never made a video as explosive as this one you put together! Insane results, well done, excellent delivery, great tutorial and info! As a creator in this space I'm planning on doing some of the techniques you highlighted in this video soon and I will be sure to reference many of my beginner viewers to this video over the coming seasons. Well done and Turf Mechanic approved! :D
Nice, I wasn't talking about this or anything but my Google implant chip must be reading my thoughts because I was thinking about how I needed to address the few weeds that popped up in the cracks of my driveway yesterday. Thanks for the tips.
I have used the Tremco product. Worked great and can be worked with your hands as long as you use 409 spray. Otherwise it sticks to everything! I live in Phoenix and the 1a5 degree temps have not done anything to the joint.
For a perfect fit backer, fill the crack with a mix of 50% clumping cat litter and 50% rock salt. Wet it down and as the salt dissolves add more. When it no longer settles, and is ~3/4" below the surface, when dry, apply sealant.
Salt makes most concretes spar, so you don't want to do that unless it's specifically made for salt exposure. Northern driveways are more likely to have admixtures to handle salt (freezing weather and salt for ice are more common), but in the South...nope. That salt might be slowly eating away the underside of your slab. Larger cracks and edge breaks would follow in that case. Sorry, don't want to bear bad news. But I'd also hate for you to see a repeat of my issues.
The best sidewalk joint detail IMO: 1. Clean joint as shown in video. 2. Place pea gravel or 1/4" fine crushed rock into the joint to within 3/8" of Top of Slab. 3. Lock the pea gravel down with a light coat of clear floor epoxy poured over the top making sure to brush the epoxy along the verticals as a primer. 4. Once the epoxy is cured, place your favorite caulking over gravel/epoxy matrix without backer rod. Top with sand as needed. 5. This creates a relatively thin caulking layer over a relatively weed-resistant sidewalk joint. Recaulking is as easy as peel away the old, hose out the dirt, and recaulk.
That's how you get cracks in your slabs. The expansion joints aren't there because it makes concrete easier to pour. They're necessary for the life/health of your concrete.
No, here's what you do. When you have boiling water leftover from cooking, take it outside and dump it on the spots where you want to kill weeds. Just do that every time you have leftover boiling water. No need to run the weed whipper / edger.. no need to spend $26 on a bucket of poison.
I used the 45SSL on my driveway with some sprinkled sand on top to help protect it. After i cleaned out the old expansion stuff i noticed some deep holes under the driveway. I filled in the voids with sand and used a compressor to make sure the entire void was filled. If you blast air inside the void it will spread the sand out and you can keep filling it.
I've used those self-leveling fillers on my driveway a couple times, but after a year or so, I find they shrink and have separations all along the way. Still, it's better than nothing.
You can also use pipe insulation foam. It is black and already cut down one side with a straight factory cut. THANK YOU for the preen idea. Simply brilliant! 🤦♀Why didn't I think of it?
I did the same thing with clear silicone. 12 years later it's still holding up. Use a leaf blower to blow away the dust, then apply the silicone. Then a wet paint brush to gently flatten it down. Done.
love this vid, also the few others you made for filling gap b/w foundation and walkway. used legit backer rods all sizes and also a couple of not poodle noodles but that foam you put on pipes for condensation, did my entire house last fall and saved the garage for this year. this killed my back though being on my knees for a couple days straight (I had to remove the previous homeowners old backer rod). i also found it interesting that not a single home depot in southern ontario had the dap polyurethane available i use that over any self levelling material. it actually just came back in stock last week. i had to drive to Buffalo home depot to get some dap a couple of months ago when I did the porch. one new thing i learned form this vid is that to sprinkle sand 30-40 min later I'm not sure if you ever mentioned that timing in your previous vids. this is my fav diy channel on the net. can you do a vid on how to replace really old seals on bathtub knobs... late 70's ish????
I had done something almost identical to this years back, along w/polymeric sand. First time my driveway was pressure washed, it destroyed hours of work *in less than a few minutes.*
That's nice I guess, but I have the opposite problem - very thin strips of concrete cropping up in my lawn. I tried spraying concreticide, but to no avail.
Most of what you did was spot on, but instead of using a toxic substance to kill any remaining roots and seeds use vinegar instead. It does a good job killing unwanted plants but isn't toxic to the environment. I've used it to kill weeds myself, including some big monsters that got out of hand because I don't get outside much due to being disabled. For above ground plants, it might take more than one application of regular strength vinegar, but you could try industrial strength vinegar. Wear gloves and eye protection if using industrial strength vinegar, as it's strong enough to burn your skin and eyes. I think that you can get industrial strength vinegar at garden centers and hardware stores. For simplicity, and for safety's sake I just use regular strength vinegar, even if it means applying it more than once. I've known about this use for vinegar for years, and I still feel good about finding something environmentally safe, cheap, easy to get, and easy to use for killing unwanted plants. Another benefit of using regular strength vinegar to kill plants is that ground treated with it won't poison pets or wildlife.🤗
Can you please tell me if vinegar can prevent centipedes from coming into the bathroom? And if yes, is there a particular type of vinegar that does the trick?
45% vinegar strength 1 gallon makes 9 gallons of 5% store-bought vinegar a lot cheaper to kill weeds you only need 10 to 15% dilution but the 45% vinegar solution 1 gallon can make 2 gallons at 20%. They also recommend at the 20% rate one cup of salt and 1 tablespoon of dish soap, it does kill weeds, highly effective and not poisonous but you do need to wear mass gloves and I protection as well as being outside when you mix it.
@@sn.m you can get those ketchup or mustard plastic bottles with the fine tips, and go buy some diatomaceous earth pet safe, organic from a tractor supply really cheap put in those bottles and then sprinkle it around the corners and cracks. It will kill ants roaches any type of bug that crawls around in those corners without harming your pets or your loved ones.
for the self leveling, I used Sika but I bought a whole box because it's much cheaper that way and that stuff will be used. the stuff is not cheap but it lasts for many years.
We're trying to keep a neighbor's bamboo from coming up in cracks in our driveway. We spend every spring trying to dig out and poison rhizomes and tried to put in a barrier, but it's still a concern. That 🗑️ should be banned or at least restricted within 100 yds of someone else's property.
Running bamboo is a nightmare. Previous owner of my house planted it. When I dug it out, it was clear that it had run under a fence to my neighbor's irrigated garden. They didn't want to deal with it. I'm installing a corrugated metal barrier 18" deep, and then I will xeriscape the 24" along the fence. I will watch carefully as no barrier is perfect. I predict that eventually they will wish they'd dug the stuff up when it was a small problem. Awful stuff.
I clean it out, then used only the grout and paver sand since i have pavers. on another awkward 1x4 gap: taped overlapping edges 3 inches back -used can spray foam then placed cardboard on top as it expanded, light trim, quick shot color match spray paint. No weeds since 2 year ago and holding
Preen does not kiil weeds at the root as you say, it prevents weed (and any other)seeds from germinating, so if you have any weed roots left in those cracks, they will grow back as if nothing ever happened.
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Haaa
Just pour gas and you’ll be set
One of my favorite tools to do this job. Would be a really good pair of Knee Pads.
I wish you lived in VB
A bottle of tar.
I like watching home improvement videos. Much easier than actually doing any home improvement.
😂
You know you're getting old is when you're excited to go to a home improvement store and watch people do backyard project in yt
Me too, that way when I call a handyman (which I eventually do after watching all the videos) I can give him a lot of expert advice and sound smart doing so 😃
If I am unsure on DIY specifics YT is the perfect avenue to find alternate solutions, being older means I have more tools now LOL 😅
Lol❤❤❤❤
It’s weird, I get grass where I don’t want it and weeds where I want grass. It’s like hair, I get hair in my nose and ears where I don’t want it and I’m going bald on my head where I do want it, crazy!
lol
@@blueseasbluesky b
😂😂
truth! Lol😂
I whole heartedly agree😂
Since I am lazy, I just pour boiling water on the weeds. If you hit them early in the season, the weeds won't come back. I also do this method to remove the weeds from the patio. In a couple of days the weeds are dead and they can be broomed away. Also, environmentally cleaner than herbicides.
You can also use vinegar
I'd rather do almost any method versus putting an unsightly sealant on my driveways expansion joints.
That solution he showed won't last all that long.
The homeowner who tries it will be right back at square one within a few years, but also have a mass of unsightly gunk in their joints.
@@MrVvulfIf it's polyurethane, which I believe Sika is, he will be fine. I did a ton of it on a valet parking drive way where hundreds drive over daily and it gets rain and sun. 5 years later still looks new
Thanks for sharing this information.
That's what I do@@bobfitzgerald5056
I appreciate that you sped up the film instead of taking extra time just to make a longer video and put more ad in.
It's all a big add. This can be done way cheaper and easier with a little bit of baking soda.
As an Engineer - I'd like to give some advice: Foam is great and I am all for sealing expansion joints. I want to suggest you find 'Polysulphide' sealant (not easy to find). The preference for polysulphide is that it has a 'garlic' type smell which keeps insects away.
.
Insects tend to find a gap in your expansion joint sealant and love to dig under the sealant and concrete itself and create the gap for weeds to come back.
Can we just sprinkle garlic salt or powder in this sealant?
Omega
@@angellas.1314❤
@markplain2555, Thank you for the information!
@@JanetBunch-nv1ue Alpha
Thank you for not making this a 45 min video. Nice info, no extra fluff.
This my new weekend project. I'm getting tired of mowing my sidewalk. Thanks
😂, no doubt!
Can confirm, it's well worth the cost and trouble, I never have to scrape weeds and dirt out of certain places anymore every few months.
@@Shmew455r How long has it lasted? I'm curious how permanent of a solution this is.
The perfectionism in this video is wildly satisfying.
Well I am not a perfectionist, even though this seems like a good idea to me it seems like a lot of tedious work and very OCD to me...I have OCD but this is not where I would chose to spend my OCD time! Ha, Ha,! But if you find this video helpful, good on you and enjoy the pristine look. thank you for making this video, it was interesting! 🥰
I use inexpensive table salt poured heavily in the cracks after cleaning out the cracks. This keeps them clear of weeds for most of the summer.
Hitting them with boiling water also helps.
Used motor poured into the crack is probably more permanent. But salt is more handy..
@@chiappettamark
Both eventually get washed out into our ground water.
I'll take the salt please.
@@chiappettamark ouch.... very permanent for the environment too.
@@macforme that’s your children issue. Who care. Let them worry about it 😅😅
This looks really nice.
I have used polymeric sand in the joint between the driveway and garage slab, and I absolutely love it.
You're an EXCELLENT teacher. Not only am I now assured I can do this, And do it well, I actually WANT to do it! 😅
Thank you
Thanks for your video... White vinegar is a lot cheaper than Preen and works the same. I use it on weeds myself. It kills weeds immediately.
Add salt to the vinegar, they won't come back.
@@justtinkering6713any particular type of salt? Table salt, Himalayan , Mediterranean, epsom, etc?
@@annaqsmith sodium chloride
@@annaqsmithuse the cheapest brand
Good tips. Some fleshy noxious weeds can cause eye or skin irritation, and they can be killed by pouring boiling water on them, without touching them or using strong chemicals
I use a propane torch that broadcasts heat
Rather than release all the irritating chemicals into the air while I'm next to it, you can grab a cup of road salt, dissolve it in a little bit of water, and pour it over. Just be aware that nothing will ever grow there again.
Don't go too buckwild with this though, salt is very bad for your local waterways. Nearby ponds and lakes really feel the effects and turn into gross, green, slimy algae blooms - some of them generating neurotoxins.
Great info. I work in the Lawn Care industry, and this is a very common issue that customers want addressed.
Thanks for the help👍🏾
Thanks for the feedback!
Really nice job. I was going to do this a few years ago on one of my homes, and replace the ghastly wood trim the previous owner had jammed in the joint. I like the sand touch, too. Thanks for the visuals on what it would have looked like had I done it. I still have the products with me.
I have a slate paver patio 15' x 20' and have made numerous attempts to keep the joints clean and clear. But after spending way too much time and money doing so, I now just let the vegetation grow (except the dandelions) and keep it trimmed down. It actually looks really nice, takes minimal time and effort and blends in nicely with the rest of my natural backyard.
I cast tiny Dutch clover seeds over my pavers, these crowd out taller grass and look fine.
Dandelions are not a bad thing! They actually help the soil you might want to do a little research.
There's a couple different things you could grow between them that don't require cutting search for grass alternatives.
Dandelions are one of the season’s earliest flowers and make great food for the pollinators ❤
@@riosoma And they r beneficial for ur health !!! 😅
I have found the weed torch to be very fast effective and economical. Weeds always find a way.
Does that kill the weeds permanently? Would gasoline and a match work to kill weeds in those cracks permanently you think?
Recycling plastic bags and turn them into plastic ropes, I filled those gaps with the plastic ropes, and then I used my heat gun to melt the plastic ropes to seal it.
I used that a couple years ago on all the relief cuts and cracks. Sika is the mfr. It works great. It also is an inhibitor of ants. They use those cracks as a highway to the home.
Self leveling caulk does tend to bubble if you try to fill too deep of an area or you trap air below it. That's why you need backer rods and the backer rod needs to fit tightly in the gap.
Dear Scott, from personal experience, I have found a curved linoleum knife to be a very handy tool for clearing out the grass, weeds, etc. from those expansion joints and other concrete cracks, and for the most part does a much neater, easier job than any screwdriver. The hook part of the knife pulls a great deal out of those cracks. Your hose nozzle follow-up though, is excellent. Have a good day.
A High pressure hose works fantastically and completely demolishes/removes the weeds as well.
One of my favorite gardening tools.
Permanent fix = Find a way to put a tiny strip of zinc in the cracks, the entire length. Zinc changes the alkalinity of rain water or any water and will not allow plant life to grow. This is old knowledge we some how forgot. I got it from tour guide, who was explaining the ornate features on the roof of the Biltmore Estate ( Vanderbilt Home in Asheville North Carolina)
@@nesbittgregory where do you find a zinc strip?
I did the self leveling about 3 years ago. I had to pull out 1 weed recently since. Works great. I do have to bleach it once in a while because mildew grows on it.
Vinegar works better on mold and mildew
In grade 10, we learned of the Roman method of salting the fields. I use left over winter road salt to sterilize areas where I don't want plants.
Same here! I try to keep the chemical weed control to a minimum at my place, and a pot of boiling salt water is my go-to solution.
Huh! Brilliant. So do you remove the weeds and dirt like in this video, or just sprinkle the salt directly onto the weeds in the cracks? (I am brand new to this.)
@@ahill4642 : I'm lazy. I salt in the spring, before the plants take hold. I have used it at the fence line because of neighbour weeds, the edge of the driveway, around the shed on a stone base and killed a cut down tree with a salt pile on the stump.
Another weed killer is spray a mixture of vinegar, water and a bit of dish soap, spray it on leaves.
For some weeds that are being difficult, a propane torch works. Just enough to singe the leaves, no need to burn them.
@Stock Villain What do you think Salt is, if not a Chemical?
@@StuninRub the difference is that salt is natural and already found the the ocean, and lots of other places as well.
Great video but..... Man my knees were hurting just watching you do all this without pads. Great job!!!
I use rock salt in the spring time. Works all year. Cheaper than weed killer and no other chemicals.
What ratio do you do? Apply with water?
You could skip couple of labor intensive steps by using a 3,000 psi power washer and blast everything out all at once in the cracks/control joints. The self leveling filler for cracks works pretty good for indoors like in my garage but it only lasted couple years for the driveway and sidewalks. I had an extra bag of stucco mix just to try it out by chance, not 100% but so far held up pretty good after couple of years. Much easier to use and cheaper.
Great comment
+2 on the PW. Let dry and use a compressor and air nozzle or a shop vac blower if you really want to go nuts. For an outdoor application like this, especially on a driveway in full sun, like a roof shingle, gravel would give protection from the UV degradation. Get some small fish tank gravel and gently pack it in on top. Do a short run, gravel it, and continue. Gravel needs to go on right away before the filler skins over. Might be cool to do it with colored fish gravel or fish tank glass gravel. Or even glow in the dark/ reflective gravel!
@@wingnutbert9685 killer idea with the fishtank gravel!
That's because you don't know how to use the filler.
Affter you fill the crack with caulk, you can cap it with fine sand while it is still wet and that will act as a sunscreen after it has been dried and the excess brushed off. Nice look also. Gives you longer life of the caulk.
I use my pressure washer to get grass and weeds out of the cracks. It blows out grass, dirt, roots and all in just a few minutes (no digging with a screw driver!) but this only last a couple months or so until the grass comes back. I like the idea of the backer rod with sealant. I'll definitely be trying this!
Came here looking for the effects of weed and cracks but I definitely need this as well
50 years ago my dad put something black in the cracks, possibly tar of some sort, and one year later we kids were instructed to dig it all back out as it was bubbling up from the heat of the sun and making a huge sticky mess.
Not good if something black got in his crack. It can get sticky.
we used to do that. asphalt repair goop. not sure what it was cuz i was about 6 or 7 y,o.
Applying Preen periodically to my expansion joints works very well. Affordable and just takes just a few minutes.
It will give you cancer. It is not worth dying over a few weeds.
I have done that before but never thought of using the sand. Just great.
The sand finish is great. I've been meaning to do this same thing this spring but without a topper. Glad I watched.
Best of luck on the project.
Right! I always thought the filler was unsightly, but the sand is genius!
@@EverydayHomeRepairs Are you just using play sand?
Ten years ago you could buy a butyl caulk to fill the joints and it lasted more than ten years-able to expand and contract. The self-leveling material dries hard and cracks and lasts less than a year I've found.
there are some roof caulks made of rubber/butyl. That should work. no?
I used a whole case of NovaLink SL then also 3 tubes of Sika SL, both are holding up equally as well. I had so much to fill because it's a large patio / driveway combo. The Sika NON self leveling I tried for 2 small areas was awful and fell apart within a year though. So, I think the Sika self leveling is in fact great quality.
For cracks in my concrete stairs I used OSI siding sealant I had a tube of just for kicks, set in the sun for a few hours then spread it with a putty knife and my spit to smooth it out, 2 years so far and the Bear concrete paint I used afterwards still looks great.
I use boiling water on my brick paver driveway when the weeds are still small. Unfortunately, they do come back in other spots but it’s cost efficient. I think sprinkling salt in the cracks would also work as long as it doesn’t all get washed away. Another option is using sand that sets hard like concrete.
I've used sand for a few seasons now - just regular ol play sand - after cleaning out the cracks and, although it doesn't necessarily prevent any weeds from growing again, it does make it VERY easy to pull them in the future AND it's also entirely natural, without using any weed-killer poisons in & around my yard.
Salt makes most concretes spar, so you don't want to do that unless it's specifically made for salt exposure. Northern driveways are more likely to have admixtures to handle salt (freezing weather and salt for ice are more common), but in the South...nope.
@@rattlejake0422 A few weeds in the cracks of your driveway are never worth getting cancer over.
I used salt on cracked asphalt in my driveway. Didn't accomplish anything.
@@chairmanofthebored8684 Quite to the contrary. There are cracks in my concrete driveway and some tiny green plants will grow in them and they do not bother me whatsoever.
If they want to grow in such marginal conditions I can live with them and I do not have to dominate and control every square inch of my lot with poisons and carcinogenic compounds to keep the place where I park my car free of all forms of life.
The difficulties must come for people like you who will get cancer in a few years from now and can't imagine how they got it.... The tiny plants will grow back in defiance of your best efforts that in the end will prove to be self destructive .
I have bigger fish to fry than to worry about a trace of green life in such a inconsequential place.
I actually feel sorry for you.
I’m at my wits end I could never find how to outwit Mother Nature those weeds don’t quit. I can’t bend anymore so I use roundup it gives me a break for a while at least. ❤❤thanks for video it’s useful.
Better is to use Polymeric Sand, or stuff used for filling joints of brick patio. It fills and stays firm, and self adjusts when it gets damp. That silicone caulking tends to shink and come out after a few years.
The video showed the caulking was already shrinking.
That's not silicone caulk he is using. It's called sika flex and it's a polyurethane product that's made specifically for sealing concrete joints. It has held up in my driveway almost 20 years now. It's pricey but an excellent product.
Tried everything including a product that “set” like concrete that cost €50 per tub…beyond useless, the weeds & grasses came back …tried the Vinegar, salt & dish soap …again weeds came back within 1 week, just a nightmare!
Great idea ! I was considering filling them with small flower seeds for lawns which should fill them with flowers instead of weeds.
Na
Ya
If I don't do weed control every other Saturday, my wife will just find something else for me to do 🤔
because he likes to eat!!
😂
Awesome
It looks great😊
😂 ❤
Tell her that every time she make you do something on a Saturday, that she would have to make you a sandwich. Let's see how that works....
*"You've been thrown out of the house"*
YES! Backer rod and outdoor leveling caulk is the best solution for those joints.
I installed it like this for years, except I used a power washer to clean out the joints. You wanna talk about mud spray back?! If you do it right though, it’ll last as long as the driveway.
Scott, what you are doing is 99.9% accurate. However I didn’t heard why you used the backer rod. Myself I know and if you don’t mind I’ll explain. For the adhesive in this case driveway sealant to stay in place you must make the surface you are attaching to twice the surface area as the width of the cavity you are filling! So if the width of our cavity (joint) is one half inch wide then you should clear out the debris to a minimum of an inch deep! Once done I would use a wire brush to really clean both sides of the joint the power wash out remains debris! Let dry as you describe but myself I’d try and find a compatible primer and I’m not sure what Sikaflex recommends but I’m sure Sikaflex will do fine with or without primer on most porous surfaces! So now the joint is clean and dry….. time to add the backer rod! To install the backer rod you must keep in mind the width of the joint…… so if the joint is one half inch wide then use a half inch close-cell backer rod and push the backer rod so that the (top) rounded surface of the backer rod is slightly deeper then a quarter of an inch from the top surface of the concrete and once that’s done you’ll see that the backer rod automatically will be one half inch on the edge to be sealed!!! The quarter inch at the center of the joint will allow for the concrete to move with the joint’s expansion! Now after getting this written done I see that it’s is kind of wordy! However if you want this to be permanent (which is not possible) these are the precautions you will need to follow!!! I expect Sikaflex should last several years but nothing is permanent when dealing with concrete and the weather!
Nice
Are you implying if the gap is 1 inch wide, the depth needs to be 0.5 inch deep? 2 inches gap needs 1 inch deep?
THANK YOU X3. I am literally driven mad by huge dandelions and weeds between paving stones installed by previous owners. I have a heat gun, a gouger type garden tool, gallons of vinegar and salt which only works temporarily, Round-Up which failed to work at all, but watching your video, purely by chance as I was looking at genealogy videos, it suddenly made sense. Block the critters, not keep dragging them out. When I get the items you suggested, I will drop you a line and tell you how it worked for me but common sense tells me it is going to work. I am 74 so it will be slow going as I cannot kneel and have to bend but I will do it, by hook or by crook! Oh the only thing I couldn't find on English Amazon was the self-levelling sealant but I will research as surely we must have that too. Did I say thank you lol?
I tried the same task using polymeric sand. All that happened was getting weeds popping up through the sand and binder.
I have a grass growing threw polyurethane lol
Did you do the Preen before the caulk?
Did you put weed killer under it ?
@@jayrowe6473 no
@@survival_man7746 no
In one joint in front of the garage I used old roofing shingles broken to about two and a half inches wide and stacked to width of joint and hammered into it.
In the ten years since there has not been an issue.
Salt. I buy two 69 cent cartons of salt from the grocery store and pour it in along the crack and lightly spray it with the hose to melt it. No more weeds for a year or more. Ancient armies used to salt the earth of their enemy's land to keep their crops from growing. The process still works great. 😄
Glyphosphate salt - AKA Roundup
Me too
Doesn't salt destroy the integrity of the concrete? New concrete, especially. That's a large reason why road infrastructure is so horrible during and after the winter months up north. The salt gets wet as it melts the ice and works it's way down into the cracks, seeping little by little into the pores, eventually turning the concrete into a crumbled mess
@@lennykrapitz4794ehhh rock salt for snow is a bit different than table salt
Does it work on grass?
I use vinegar and Epson salt solution, woks for the whole growing season and does not pollute streams !
I saw a paved walkway where the paving stones were arranged so that grass grew between them in a checker board design. The design looked really nice. Of course, that might work with a drive way or other places. Stepping on the uneven surfaces could cause a fall or twisted ankle.
There are concrete paving blocks _designed_ to make a hard surface for vehicles and allow grass to infill the gaps through and between the blocks.
The Sitka self leveling is a really great product. I did this to my driveway over a decade ago and it is still holding up and keeping weeds out of the cracks and providing a good seal. Highly recommended.
Great idea, but those are called control joints. If/when the concrete cracks ,it will more than likely crack in that joint.
Thank you. I was wondering about that. After all, there is a reason those spaces are there.
If? No if. It's just when
The joints on either side of the sidewalk definitely appear to be expansion joints.
What a fantastic idea to use the rod to block the weed. Good video . Thank you from Jose from Melbourne Australia.
Prep concrete and stone with sealer. Commonly known as Waterglass.
Sealing the mortar or porous material by "plasticizing" the contact surface adds longevity.
On the ground...under 5 years in 4 season weather.
My husband and I have been tackling these weeds in expansion joints for 24 years! I am so going to show him this and ask to get this done! Thank you so much! Do you suggest preen first then the gap and sealer?
Residents in winter snow states have a trick for this. With leftover rock-salt after winter months, simply apply it all along sidewalk cracks--wherever weeds appear. Provided sidewalks don't get flooded regularly, one application will last through the summer. CAVEAT: You may want to reconsider this if you have pets and/or little children out 'n' about your property.
It doesn't work that long for me unfortunately so I've gone back to using those foaming sprays...cause rock salt gets expensive too. (I don't get flooding in my driveway so I don't think it's that though maybe it does work in drier winter snow states than mine. ??)
May try Preen this year.
Plus, the foaming sprays have to be stored inside overwinter because if they get exposed to the extreme cold temperatures in the garage they don't seem to work anymore.
Salt eats concrete over time. Look at a driveway where they use deicers that contain salt and you will see pitting.
Vinegar, boiling water, rock salt ... nothing has come close to solving the weed problems in my cracked driveway. At some point, I'll have to quit mowing my driveway, and dig out and replace all the old asphalt with new a$phalt.
I have put off weeding in my front patio. Rained gently last night, weeds better come out easy. If not, it is all.my fault. I love groomed yard. I have bag of Preen. Will do salt water on the bedding area next to the block wall dirt strip. Thank you!
Fill the gaps with a dry mixture of 1 part cement 4 parts polymeric sand. Then spray it with water. That should stop vegetation growth and still be flexible enough to handle the shifting of weights between concrete slabs.
Interesting idea but polymeric sand is not meant to be flexed and neither is Concrete. Your solution is basically just putting a hard substance between the expansion joints which defeats the purpose in the first place. Sika-flex is much more flexible and the best solution in this application.
I use my string trimmer on them and then spray grass killers to kill the roots I might have missed, works pretty well. Bleach also works well if you are just spot treating.
most places illegal to spray poison on public walkways. dogs pick it up, poison on shoes track it into the house.
@@dicko-200 good point!
Looks great, Scott, but what about showing the neighbors your proper command of a propane torch weed burner? "Send a message," I always say.
I did this process to install automower line in the expansion joints of my driveway. Great tip on the sand, wish I did that!
Well done man. Looks very professional. Cant wait to try your process on my driveway.
Did he mention sweeping up the debris on curb, that was hosed downstream toward neighbors and probably street drains? It could contain seeds and tiny live roots to blow about, petroleum products from driveway, the dirt from the emptied crack, any herbicide remnants. Just thinking of what I've seen in my neighborhood...
Bravo. This is what I do. This is Sooooo worth it. I see people spraying poison on their driveway, year after year after year……..
Boiled water will kill the organic matter if you've got the dedication
No bullshit straight to the point information and links given well done! That kind of presentation gets a thumbs up.
How lucky are you to live on such a quiet street. I think I only saw 1 car drive by during your timelapse. Also great suggestion with the backer rod.
BONUS TIPS:
#1: If you're in a rush & don't want to wait for the water to dry, you can either skip the water and use an air compressor to blow out the debris, or use the air compressor to blow away most of the water. Just make sure to wear eye protection and maybe a dust mask.
#2: To ensure any remnant of weeds are fully gone, you could fill an old dish soap bottle with vinegar and squirt a gentle stream along the joints. If your joints are NOT on an incline (where any of the liquid could dribble down towards a sewer), then you can use some diluted bleach instead (which eventually breaks down to water and salt. Saome people say to use gasoline, but not only is that more expensive, but also harmful to the environment.
#3: Another alternative for the caulk is to use expanding foam. There are specific types made exactly for this purpose.
yea no kidding, on my street if I start doing any project near the street, cars will be stopping, even parking to watch what I’m doing, or throw an occassional beer bottle at me. 😮
Hahah. I too only counted one vehicle. That said, we luckily live on a relatively quiet cul-de-sac.
@@ciscoterres717 Someone actually threw a beer bottle at you?
I don't even have a house or a driveway what am I doing here
idk imma watch the whole thing though
It happens.
One day you will and it can be useful
@@miriambochenek9083 ah lamentably no, I doubt I will ever own a house, as all of our "leaders" are landlords
You can think about this next time you are driving on a parkway, or parking in a driveway!
This is the best . I have watched so many of these videos but this one trumps them all. The sand cover to blend is genius .
I have found that rock salt is good to preventvweeds from growing. I use the pourable tar solution but putting sand on top sounds like a good idea over black lines. 👍
Rock salt did nothing for my tenacious weeds. 😢
hey, you're a brave guy kneeling without kneepads.
Good job!
Wish I could do that 😉
my eye: "Yes, that's easy, I can do it."
my hand: "No, you can't"
I cleaned out the cracks in the concrete around a swimming pool like you did. Then I just use regular cheap clear silicone caulk. It's lasted ten years so far. No wear or lifting at all. And no weeds.
I’ve been using Ground Clear spray for years. No weeds for 1 year! I’m working on a video explaining it that will be out shortly.
Yup its the only way to do it,I spray twice a year fall and spring.Ground clear concentrate is amazing, haven't pulled a weed in decades.
Yeah my first thought was “Ground Clear and be done” but admittedly this looks nicer.
That stuff's a herbacide, same as RoundUp. I have a lot of people walking dogs on my sidewalk; I kinda cringe if they're near that chemical... I avoid salting my walks in the winter for the same reason
I just thank Bayer for having a crop science division ,never see a weed or bug lol I live in Vegas so we have some nasty stuff out here.
Yup super effective! I use it every spring on my properties! Saves hours and hours of weed whacking!
I'm super impressed that Sand was a great idea , you score a10 out of 10 in my book😊, I remember not wanting to try this because it wasn't going to match the rest of the concrete,, but now, I'm going to pick out some sand that matches my concrete. SUBSCRIBED!! This in itself is also a great new small business that I can also offer customers when I do lawn Care.😊
For sure, that would be a nice additional service. I bet you would get a lot of takers 👍
Scott, I first met you virtually on P24 years ago and never really made an effort to reach out to you (probably should have though)...since then I've been making videos on grass and weeds and lawn care for the last three years and never made a video as explosive as this one you put together! Insane results, well done, excellent delivery, great tutorial and info! As a creator in this space I'm planning on doing some of the techniques you highlighted in this video soon and I will be sure to reference many of my beginner viewers to this video over the coming seasons. Well done and Turf Mechanic approved! :D
Turf Mechanic spotted in the comments!!!
@@AndrewK209 👈 👊
WOW, this is the biggest headache for me but now I have a solution, thank you.
Nice, I wasn't talking about this or anything but my Google implant chip must be reading my thoughts because I was thinking about how I needed to address the few weeds that popped up in the cracks of my driveway yesterday. Thanks for the tips.
Mine too I guess?
Definitely nothing I looked up or talked about so kinda scary, here we are together.
I just did this yesterday and popped up on feed like it was watching me
Same. It reads my mind regularly or very obviously passively watches my camera without showing the camera active green light on the top right.
I have used the Tremco product. Worked great and can be worked with your hands as long as you use 409 spray. Otherwise it sticks to everything! I live in Phoenix and the 1a5 degree temps have not done anything to the joint.
awesome video...love the sand trick....I would've never thought of doing that and just settled with the "caulk-look".
For a perfect fit backer, fill the crack with a mix of 50% clumping cat litter and 50% rock salt. Wet it down and as the salt dissolves add more. When it no longer settles, and is ~3/4" below the surface, when dry, apply sealant.
Salt makes most concretes spar, so you don't want to do that unless it's specifically made for salt exposure. Northern driveways are more likely to have admixtures to handle salt (freezing weather and salt for ice are more common), but in the South...nope.
That salt might be slowly eating away the underside of your slab. Larger cracks and edge breaks would follow in that case.
Sorry, don't want to bear bad news. But I'd also hate for you to see a repeat of my issues.
@@FamilyManMoving And it'll rust the rebar.
I blew foam crack-filler (cut off excess with a steak knife) into cracks 15 years ago -still works perfecly.
The best sidewalk joint detail IMO:
1. Clean joint as shown in video.
2. Place pea gravel or 1/4" fine crushed rock into the joint to within 3/8" of Top of Slab.
3. Lock the pea gravel down with a light coat of clear floor epoxy poured over the top making sure to brush the epoxy along the verticals as a primer.
4. Once the epoxy is cured, place your favorite caulking over gravel/epoxy matrix without backer rod. Top with sand as needed.
5. This creates a relatively thin caulking layer over a relatively weed-resistant sidewalk joint. Recaulking is as easy as peel away the old, hose out the dirt, and recaulk.
Better yet, put put a water permeable type Earth & water- friendly turfstone and make the grass a feature.
What about expansion and contraction?
That's how you get cracks in your slabs. The expansion joints aren't there because it makes concrete easier to pour. They're necessary for the life/health of your concrete.
@@billveek9518 it only restrains the slab on one side, the other side is free to move.
@@RochelleHasTooManyHobbies it only restrains the slab on one side.
Hey, get it went first. Use small pick ax. Then hose again. DONT BEND OVER IF U DON'T HAVE TO...Love your seal method
No, here's what you do. When you have boiling water leftover from cooking, take it outside and dump it on the spots where you want to kill weeds. Just do that every time you have leftover boiling water. No need to run the weed whipper / edger.. no need to spend $26 on a bucket of poison.
Lol
Works - i can testify to that
Even if it works just okay that's fine because it's free better than spending $25 dollars for weed killer that causes cancer. 💯👍
Or just use vinegar.. it's a perfectly effective weed killer that won't poison you and the wildlife or pets in your yard.
I used the 45SSL on my driveway with some sprinkled sand on top to help protect it. After i cleaned out the old expansion stuff i noticed some deep holes under the driveway. I filled in the voids with sand and used a compressor to make sure the entire void was filled. If you blast air inside the void it will spread the sand out and you can keep filling it.
I've used those self-leveling fillers on my driveway a couple times, but after a year or so, I find they shrink and have separations all along the way. Still, it's better than nothing.
Really, I had really good luck with both Sika and Tremco. Did you use one of these brands or another product?
You need to put the foam a little deeper and then have a thicker bead of the filler material. It will last longer and shrink less.
Excellent directions, sand is a great idea, looks sooo much better than exposed calk.
Great work!
Although I've always used the Sika self-leveling material w/o the backer rods😂 now I know better 😂
I had the same problem and I finally got over it. Just weed it flat when mowing.
You can also use pipe insulation foam. It is black and already cut down one side with a straight factory cut. THANK YOU for the preen idea. Simply brilliant! 🤦♀Why didn't I think of it?
I did the same thing with clear silicone. 12 years later it's still holding up. Use a leaf blower to blow away the dust, then apply the silicone. Then a wet paint brush to gently flatten it down. Done.
I like an L hook screwed into a rake handle for digging out.
I also like to cut my backer rod into very short lengths to make pool noodles for frogs.
Clean it out like he did then fill the gap with 1/4” salt - nothing will grow there again. Then do the backer rod etc for aesthetics.
Why not use the power washer to get rid of the weeds AND the soil in one shot ?
Great if you have a power washer
love this vid, also the few others you made for filling gap b/w foundation and walkway. used legit backer rods all sizes and also a couple of not poodle noodles but that foam you put on pipes for condensation, did my entire house last fall and saved the garage for this year. this killed my back though being on my knees for a couple days straight (I had to remove the previous homeowners old backer rod). i also found it interesting that not a single home depot in southern ontario had the dap polyurethane available i use that over any self levelling material. it actually just came back in stock last week. i had to drive to Buffalo home depot to get some dap a couple of months ago when I did the porch. one new thing i learned form this vid is that to sprinkle sand 30-40 min later I'm not sure if you ever mentioned that timing in your previous vids. this is my fav diy channel on the net. can you do a vid on how to replace really old seals on bathtub knobs... late 70's ish????
I had done something almost identical to this years back, along w/polymeric sand.
First time my driveway was pressure washed, it destroyed hours of work *in less than a few minutes.*
That's nice I guess, but I have the opposite problem - very thin strips of concrete cropping up in my lawn. I tried spraying concreticide, but to no avail.
Most of what you did was spot on, but instead of using a toxic substance to kill any remaining roots and seeds use vinegar instead. It does a good job killing unwanted plants but isn't toxic to the environment. I've used it to kill weeds myself, including some big monsters that got out of hand because I don't get outside much due to being disabled. For above ground plants, it might take more than one application of regular strength vinegar, but you could try industrial strength vinegar. Wear gloves and eye protection if using industrial strength vinegar, as it's strong enough to burn your skin and eyes. I think that you can get industrial strength vinegar at garden centers and hardware stores. For simplicity, and for safety's sake I just use regular strength vinegar, even if it means applying it more than once.
I've known about this use for vinegar for years, and I still feel good about finding something environmentally safe, cheap, easy to get, and easy to use for killing unwanted plants. Another benefit of using regular strength vinegar to kill plants is that ground treated with it won't poison pets or wildlife.🤗
vinegar will basically kill what it touches, but it won't kill the roots of the plant. sodium chloride will poison the soil so nothing grows.
Can you please tell me if vinegar can prevent centipedes from coming into the bathroom? And if yes, is there a particular type of vinegar that does the trick?
45% vinegar strength 1 gallon makes 9 gallons of 5% store-bought vinegar a lot cheaper to kill weeds you only need 10 to 15% dilution but the 45% vinegar solution 1 gallon can make 2 gallons at 20%. They also recommend at the 20% rate one cup of salt and 1 tablespoon of dish soap, it does kill weeds, highly effective and not poisonous but you do need to wear mass gloves and I protection as well as being outside when you mix it.
@@sn.m you can get those ketchup or mustard plastic bottles with the fine tips, and go buy some diatomaceous earth pet safe, organic from a tractor supply really cheap put in those bottles and then sprinkle it around the corners and cracks. It will kill ants roaches any type of bug that crawls around in those corners without harming your pets or your loved ones.
@@peckerpeter2078 thank you🙏
for the self leveling, I used Sika but I bought a whole box because it's much cheaper that way and that stuff will be used. the stuff is not cheap but it lasts for many years.
We're trying to keep a neighbor's bamboo from coming up in cracks in our driveway. We spend every spring trying to dig out and poison rhizomes and tried to put in a barrier, but it's still a concern. That 🗑️ should be banned or at least restricted within 100 yds of someone else's property.
Running bamboo is a nightmare. Previous owner of my house planted it. When I dug it out, it was clear that it had run under a fence to my neighbor's irrigated garden. They didn't want to deal with it. I'm installing a corrugated metal barrier 18" deep, and then I will xeriscape the 24" along the fence. I will watch carefully as no barrier is perfect.
I predict that eventually they will wish they'd dug the stuff up when it was a small problem. Awful stuff.
I clean it out, then used only the grout and paver sand since i have pavers. on another awkward 1x4 gap: taped overlapping edges 3 inches back -used can spray foam then placed cardboard on top as it expanded, light trim, quick shot color match spray paint. No weeds since 2 year ago and holding
A pressure washer can also clean out the joints.
For sure, was trying to keep the need for tools as low as possible but a pressure washer really helps blast out the cracks if you have one 👍
@@EverydayHomeRepairsi prefer to blast ON her crack... Rather than get her prego again👉💯👋
It's like a driveway bidet 😅
@@rosie684🤣🤣🤣
Preen does not kiil weeds at the root as you say, it prevents weed (and any other)seeds from germinating, so if you have any weed roots left in those cracks, they will grow back as if nothing ever happened.
Excellent DIY lessons! Great job on the explanation of techniques and materials used.