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Choosing The Right Polymer Sand For Your Landscaping Project

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Tinkering with your landscape can be a great way to spend a weekend or a holiday, especially if you love working in the outdoors and getting involved in construction. However, the art of creating is much different from maintenance and that part can be really tedious. If you are creating a walkway, driveway or patio section in your garden or yard, choosing the right polymer sand can be of help in maintaining the look you want while keeping some maintenance issues such as weed growth between your pavers to a minimum. However, not all polymer sands are created equal and some can actually cause you more headache and expenses over time. 

So if your next yard project involves putting in some form of pavement, consider the following characteristics of available polymer sand before making your choice

Defeating the purpose

One of the benefits of polymer sand is the fact that it sets after adding water to it. This is after the sand is swept between the pavers. It also allows for quick drying that can allow free movement across the pavement, usually within 24 hours of application. Unfortunately there are some polymer sands that claim to be adjustable to the shifting of the pavers over time and these tend to soften when they come into contact with water - say in the next shower of rain. 

However, when the rain falls (or there is a wayward sprinkle or hose water) the polymer tends to not just soften and shift to accommodate the pavers; they also can get washed out of the grooves and onto the pavement, lawn or garden. This situation is certainly not low maintenance as you will have to re-sand as well as possible having to do damage control for your plants. Not to mention the unsightly mess that displaced wet sand might make, lying on top of the pavers.

Working with the environment

One concern for putting in pavement is where the runoff from rainfall is going to go. It has been suggested that the usual methods of addressing this concern is no longer working and can actually increase the possibilities of flooding either in your yard or in your community. As a result of this it is suggested that, especially with large paving projects, that porous pavers be used with a base of either sand or gravel. 

Since the polymer sand is glued together, it might not offer the same level of permeability as the paver you choose but it works well with the various materials and can keep them in place for years. 

For further assistance, contact a local sand outlet, such as Burien Bark LLC.


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