I need to select an expansion joint sealant to apply between a concrete deck and granite coping.
It looks like polysulfide rubber has long been used for this and I've found both positive and negative reviews on this forum.
There's also acrylic sealers that have very mixed reviews. Someone who had a failure with this type of material said their solution was to change to SikaFlex sold at Home Depot which I believe is a polyurethane material. The data sheet for that says not to use when exposure to greater than 5ppm of chlorine is expected. Sounds risky for this purpose.
From a historical standpoint I can see why polysulfide products might have been the only solution in the middle of the last century, when that was the only field dispensable rubber available, but since then silicone and polyurethane technologies have become a mainstay of similar sealing needs.
I've looked, but for other than repair materials, I haven't found silicones specifically marketed for deck to coping sealing. If there's nothing wrong with silicones, I was thinking of going with a self leveling variety in which I dust the top surface with colored sand. Any thoughts? Has anyone used silicones successfully?
It looks like polysulfide rubber has long been used for this and I've found both positive and negative reviews on this forum.
There's also acrylic sealers that have very mixed reviews. Someone who had a failure with this type of material said their solution was to change to SikaFlex sold at Home Depot which I believe is a polyurethane material. The data sheet for that says not to use when exposure to greater than 5ppm of chlorine is expected. Sounds risky for this purpose.
From a historical standpoint I can see why polysulfide products might have been the only solution in the middle of the last century, when that was the only field dispensable rubber available, but since then silicone and polyurethane technologies have become a mainstay of similar sealing needs.
I've looked, but for other than repair materials, I haven't found silicones specifically marketed for deck to coping sealing. If there's nothing wrong with silicones, I was thinking of going with a self leveling variety in which I dust the top surface with colored sand. Any thoughts? Has anyone used silicones successfully?