Tired of stuff growing in between my travertine pavers

[bmoreswim]

Still looks great, however, a byproduct of looking good is it shows dirt more, but the dirt is easily hosed off. It actually looks good enough where I might try the Roomba to clean it. I figure the stair avoidance feature should keep it out of the pool.

Nice looking!! The tile looks like hair that has had light highlights added, with all of the depressions being filled with the grout.

That's an important "should" regarding the Roomba. I say give it a shot! But video it for us.

And this thread should require an annual update!

 

[Katodude]

So no video yet, but it works. The Roomba will go to the edge of the pool stop and turn around. I may still end up using the virtual walls since I really just want it to clean the sitting area that is under cover. This might be a good excuse for me to buy a new Roomba with the fancy new features, and make the old one an “outdoor” Roomba.

I will update the thread again in the summer to see how it holds up to a hot rainy Florida summer.

 

[Newdude]

Omg i thought you were joking. Its even funnier that you werent. Is it still a Roomba outside ? A free range Roomba maybe ??

 

[BMK]

I can see myself in that picture.....lounging by the pool, drink in hand, while my minion robots scurry all around me cleaning the pool and the surrounding deck area. Just one more robot needed to serve drinks and supervise the other robots and I'd be all set!

 

[Katodude]

Skynet became self aware today.

 

[homegameroom]

Your deck looks great! And I have been known to use my vacuum cleaner to pick up stray stuff on my patio (between pressure washings), but never thought of using a roomba! I'm sure my neighbors think I'm a nut! ?

I have a coworker who had a roomba - she could not find it one day. I told her maybe it ran away. ?

 

[imagineero]

Results look fantastic, please be sure and update us at some point regarding how well it lasts.

For anybody not wanting to apply chemicals, simply pulling the weeds out is surprisingly effective. If you can’t get at the roots, then boiling water is the holy grail. It takes very little boiling water to kill weeds, and incidentally it’s what they use in many organic farms for weed suppression (steam). It’s typically a tractor mounted diesel powered steam generating unit.

 

[JJ_Tex]

Nice. If you get a new roomba, buy it from hammacher and you will get a lifetime warranty. Every 4-5 years my battery dies, I call them up and they send me a new one, usually a newer model (after I offer to change out the battery if they will just send me a new battery). I got my i7 a few weeks ago and it now maps out my house and will respond to alexa.

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[Katodude]

Great idea. I will wait for the I7+ to go back on sale and then pick it up from there.

 

[Katodude]

The i7+ just went back on sale for $799 and I ordered one. Excited about having it map the house, and the back deck. With the exclusion zone tech I can have it clean my sitting area before I go out and have coffee there.

 

[Aquaman7]

Well I guess I will find out the hard way. It may end up being a two step process. Grout everything including the holes where stuff grows. Wait until the grout cracks and breaks and then redo those sections with polymeric sand.

I am just done with this problem and am willing to throw a bunch of stuff at it.

If your grout lines start to crack, you holes will still be sealed. Which is a good thing. Less dirt to accumulate on the travertine.
would an epoxy grout be more flexible?

 

[Katodude]

Well 6 months in and the deck still looks great. Not a single weed growing between the pavers. There are some sections where the grout is coming out between some of the pavers but not very much. But the holes are still very full of grout and solid (I actually had weeds grow in some of the old holes before. Florida is basically a jungle). The deck is also easier to clean dirt hoses off very quickly. And the Roomba works great on it. (not using my new one on the deck but that may change soon).

 

[tbattaglia]

Found this thread searching desperately to combat weeds grown in my south florida travertine patio. I was between the polymeric sand (which i dont think will work since the gaps are to small) and non-sanded grout. Like your patio my patio is laid on a cement base so i'm not worried about to much movement. I just wanted to see if you could give one more update since you are about a year out from your original install. I'm leaning heavily towards doing the grout this weekend since the weather is so nice.

Couple questions:

how many cracks are you getting is 90% of the gaps staying grouted?

How dirty is the grout getting. Unfortunately my travertine is lighter so i think my grout would have to go lighter to match so im worried about how thats going to look dirty.

Have you gotten it pressure washed since grouting? if yes, how did the grout hold up to that?

 

[Katodude]

So I would say more than 90% is still grouted. There are some sections where the grout did not hold up, but for the most part it is still really good. I am happy I did it. It is also probably not a big deal to have the guys come out again and fix some of the sections, but it really has not bothered me very much.

Not only is the grout holding up in the cracks but it has filled in most of the holes that exist in the travertine. The whole thing just looks better.

Grout is not too dirty and hoses off pretty well. I also had the deck and grout sealed so that probably helps. There are some places where it is getting dirty. I have not made a concerted effort to clean it since we have had sooooo much rain lately. That might be a project for a hose and some chlorine.

I have not taken a pressure washer to it, so not sure how it would hold up. I am a little scared to try, but honestly I dont think I need to pressure wash it.

Hope that helps.

 

[tbattaglia]

I appreciate the response.

so you achieved your results of no weeds in the cracks? I'm referring to the 90% that grout is intact.

I think i'm going to go ahead with grouting including the surface holes. I think ill go your route and seal it once i'm done. If it needs to be touched up in a couple years its a small price to pay to keep weeds from growing which really makes it look horrible to the point where i wish i would have gone with stamped concrete.

thanks again.

 

[Katodude]

I still get a few weeds, but I would say 97% less. I was in the same point as you, it was driving me crazy with the weeds, and the algae that was growing.

That is pretty much over now.

 

[Katodude]

2 years later so I figured I would update this thread. The grout is holding up very well. For the most part the black algae that used to grow in the cracks between the pavers is gone. This was the primary driver that was making me nuts. So mission accomplished there. There are some sections where the grout is cracking and flaking a little but that was to be expected. Most of the holes in the travertine are filled as well and the whole deck just looks better. Now I do have some spurge that grows in some of the cracks but it is very easy to deal with compared to what I had before.

Overall I am very satisfied.

However, being a perfectionist has disadvantages, there are some sections that bug me. I have an on going project to redo some of the areas that are high traffic and high visibility. Every few weeks I do a couple of hours of work and a section looks like new again.

I have just finished the area around the fire pit. It is an area that seems to accumulate dirt, and the lizards and frogs like to poop there. Put down two coats of sealer. Now it is super clean around the area, and a very quick brooming or hosing off keeps it that way.

 

[Dukebuk]

Thanks for posting Kato. I have to do the same thing.

Just for my own info they just pressure wash the travertine, grout it and then seal. No else—no soap or anything and no the steps—correct?

What color grout did you use?
What kind of sealer did you use?

Thanks so much,,

 

[Katodude]

So yes, they just pressure washed the deck. They used chlorine as well to kill some of the algae.

They used Polyblend non sanded grout since the spaces between the pavers was pretty small. It was Linen color, which happened to match my travertine very well.

As for the sealer they used, I am not sure, but some solvent based sealer. I am now using this as I fix certain spots.

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I wait 2-3 days for the grout to cure before I apply it.

 

[Katodude]

So, an update

Deck and grout is still holding up well for the most part. There is some chipping and flaking of the grout in some area, high sun or high traffic, who knows. Still to be clear I am thrilled with the original result, it achieved the primary goal of significantly reducing the weeds (mainly spurge) that grow in the holes and the joints. The black algae that used to grow in the holes is also significantly reduced. When I say significantly I mean 95% reduction which is a big win.

Now I am a perfectionist so there are a bunch of spots that still bug me. So I continue to do repairs to sections. The covered areas seem to be holding up better than the fully exposed areas. Its Florida so everything takes a beating, I guess grout is no exception.

Now a few changes:

Sealing the grout 3 days after application helps a lot. However, I am rather disappointed with the sealer that I used. While it goes on great, and is very water repellent. It only lasts about 2 months. Which is not a great return. So I am in the market for a really good high end sealer.

I am also changing the grout that I will be using. Instead of Polyblend I have gone to Prism (made by the same company). It is more expensive (who case in the grand scheme pretty cheap still). More highly rated, and can manage joints of up to 1/2”. It has more/different aggregate and polymers I guess.

I did a small section with Prism. Its harder to work with, and drys incredibly fast. So I will have to be doing smaller sections. I am going to mix is just a hair thinner and see if that helps without compromising its strength.

It is much stronger than Polyblend. I did a small section a week ago and its clear that it holds better, looks better and just feels stronger. I even hit it with a weak pressure washer yesterday and it held up well. It also seems more hydrophobic. It says it does not need to be sealed, but I might end up doing it anyway. I still have a bottle of that other sealer so I might as well use it.

We will see how it holds up long term.