Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How does your jointing material differ from polymeric sand?
Q2. Why is there a white residue/haze on my pavers after I install your jointing          product?
Q3. Can I install your jointing product around my pool?
Q4. Can I install your product(s) on my patio/driveway if I have a concrete base?
Q5. Why is there a 'musky' smell present after install your product(s)?
Q6. To what depth do I fill the joints with your jointing product?
Q7. Can I install your product(s) in areas that receive little to no sunlight during the          day?
Q8. What is the coverage rate of the EnviroSAND?
Q9. What is the coverage rate of the EnviroSTONE?
Q10. What is the cover rate of the EnviroPAVE?
Q11. Where can I purchase your product(s)?
Q12. Can I use a sealer on your jointing product?
Q13. Can I use your product(s) in an area where there is heavy runoff when it rains?
Q14. Should I store your jointing product indoors or can I leave it outdoors?
Q15. Can I purchase your product directly from Envirobond?
Q16. What can I use as an indication that your product is fully saturated?
Q17. What is the best material to use as a base if I wish to install one of your joint            product?
Q18. How do I get excess material off the surface of my pavers when it has stabilized to           the surface of my pavers?
Q19. What type of traffic can your product(s) withstand after installation?
Q20. Why are there lossened particles from the EnviroSTONE on the surface of my            flagstones?
Q21. Will your product(s) be harmful to the flowers and plants in my gardens?
Q22. Will your product be harmful to my pets?
Q23. How long will your product(s) last before I have to follow up with maintenance            procedures?
Q24. Can I use a dye on your product?

Q1. How does your jointing material differ from polymeric sand?
The primary difference between our jointing material and polymeric sand is that our EnviroBINDER is a biologically-based binder as opposed to the chemically-based polymeric binder. The organic material that makes up the EnviroBINDER will establish self-healing biological bonds upon activation of the EnviroBINDER, which will allow all segmental systems to remain flexible. The chemical polymer that is used to make up the polymeric binder will establish permanent bonds that will not self-heal when cracked. The permanent polymeric binder will not allow a paver or flagstone application to remain segmental and will actually create a monolithic paving system. In addition to self-healing, the biological bonds established by the EnviroBINDER are re-useable in that the bonds can be broken apart and will effectively reestablish when water is applied to the broken bonds. This is very beneficial when a section of a paver or flagstone application must be lifted and re-laid; our jointing material can be easily removed from a joint in a saturated state and replaced in the joint to achieve stability once again upon saturation. Aside from the difficulty that may arise when attempting to remove polymeric sand from the joints, the polymeric sand will not achieve stability a second time and will have to be replaced with new material.

Q2. Why is there a white residue/haze on my pavers after I install your jointing product?
The white residue sometimes results when the dust-size particles in our bagged product become trapped in the tight void space on the surface of your pavers or flagstones. Even if the surfaces of the stones are swept with a broom before watering, some dust-size particles will remain. The best way to rid the paver surface of the white residue is to allow natural rainfall wash it away for you. As our products are 100% natural, 2 to 3 weeks of rainfall will effectively remove the white residue. If you wish to accelerate this cleaning process, the use of a scrub brush and a garden hose will also remove the white residue, while maintaining the natural look of the paver or flagstone application. To prevent the white residue from re-occurring in future projects where our product is installed, clean the paver or flagstone surface with a leaf blower prior to watering. If a leaf blower is unavailable to you, the next best preventative measure is to clean the paver or flagstone surface with a water spray slightly harder than a mist following stabilization of the jointing material.

Q3. Can I install your jointing product around my pool?
Yes, our product(s) can be installed around a pool. Ensure that there is a minimum three-foot concrete skirt around the perimeter of the pool so that splashing and constant wetting will not heavily disturb the jointing material that is closest to the pool.

Q4. Can I install your product(s) on my patio/driveway if I have a concrete base?
Our product should not be installed in any application where there is a concrete or similar impervious base. Our products remain permeable following stabilization and an impervious base completely eliminates this beneficial feature. As well, if there is no pathway for water to escape at the base of the jointing material, then jointing material will hold water for lengthened time periods, which will result in destabilization of our product and an overall shorter lifetime.

Q5. Why is there a 'musky' smell present after install your product(s)?
The ‘musky’ smell results when the organic binder in our product is saturated for an extended time period. This smell is common with many other organic materials when saturated and there is absolutely no cause for alarm. When the jointing material dries, the ‘musky’ smell will quickly dissipate.

Q6. To what depth do I fill the joints with your jointing product?
To achieve maximum stability and optimal performance from our jointing material, the entire depth of the joint must be completely filled will our jointing material. Do not mix our product with regular sand or any other similar material and do not fill the bottom half of the joint with regular sand or stone and the top half with our joint material. The reason that this practice should be avoided is that the end result will be a layer of stabilized jointing material on top of a layer of loose jointing material; when rainfall runoff chooses its path of least resistance, it will flow under the stabilized layer and scoop it out of the joint, resulting in a washed-out joint that will require repair.

Q7. Can I install your product(s) in areas that receive little to no sunlight during the day?
It is not recommended that you install our product in areas that receive little to no sunlight during the daytime hours. If our products remain saturated for extended periods of time, the moisture will cause the organic binder to begin breaking down and our product will destabilize. Maximum stability is achieved when our product is allowed to dry, which will be difficult in shaded heavily shaded areas due to a lack of sunlight and lower temperatures.

Q8. What is the coverage rate of the EnviroSAND?
When the joints in your paver application area are very tight, you will be able to cover an area of approximately 100 square-feet with one 25 kg bag of EnviroSAND. Wider joint applications, such as tumbled pavers, will achieve approximately 80 square feet of coverage/ 25kg bag.

Q9. What is the coverage rate of the EnviroSTONE?
When the average joint width in your flagstone application is about 2“, you will be able to cover an area up to 40 square-feet. You will cover an area up to 50 square-feet if the average joint width is about 1” and an area up to 60 square-feet if the average joint width is ½” respectively.

Q10. What is the cover rate of the EnviroPAVE?
For a pathway application of this product, where the material will be subject to bicycle and foot traffic, 1 ton of material will cover approximately 100 square-feet if the material is installed at a 2” depth. For a driveway application, where the traffic will mostly be vehicular, 1 ton of material will cover an area of approximately 60 square feet.

Q11. Where can I purchase your product(s)?
Our material can be purchased from one of our many dealers in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and the United States. The locations of these dealers can be found on the map, which can be accessed through the DEALERS link at the top of our homepage.

Q12. Can I use a sealer on your jointing product?
To achieve additional stability around applications such as a pool deck, sealers can be used on our product. If you choose to apply a sealer on an application where our jointing material was installed, ensure that the sealer is HIGH PERFORMANCE, DEEPLY PENETRATING, and COMPLETELY BREATHABLE. Be aware that a sealer will remove some of our product’s natural features, including permeability, re-useability, and self-healing nature.

Q13. Can I use your product(s) in an area where there is heavy runoff when it rains?
Yes, our product can be installed in area where there is heavy runoff flow when it rains so long as an effective watershed management plan is in place. If you find that the runoff is excessive and some of our material begins washing out of the joints, then an effective solution is to control and reduce the runoff by installing a catch basin or develop a grade system that will distribute the runoff across a larger area, thus reducing stress on the jointing material.

Q14. Should I store your jointing product indoors or can I leave it outdoors?
Our product should not be stored in an outdoor environment where it will be subject to rain. When moisture gets inside a bag of our material it will become confined and cause the EnviroBINDER to break down. If our product is stored indoors, it can will remain completely in tact for future projects as the material will remain dry and sheltered from climatic influences.

Q15. Can I purchase your product directly from Envirobond?
Our EnviroPAVE product can be purchased directly through Envirobond, but our EnviroSAND and EnviroSTONE products can only be purchased through one of our dealers.

Q16. What can I use as an indication that your product is fully saturated?
When excessive puddling begins during the saturation or ‘misting’ stage of the installation, this is an indication that the jointing material is fully saturated and ready to be left to dry. To further verify that the jointing material is fully saturated, insert a screwdriver or similar tool into the saturated jointing material to check the saturation depth; material can be removed to check the saturation depth and replaced soon afterwards without sacrificing the stabilizing ability of the material.

Q17. What is the best material to use as a base if I wish to install one of your joint product?
As long as your base material is permeable to water, it will be an effective base material and will not sacrifice an of the performance features of our products. We recommend that regular sand or ‘A’ gravel screenings be used as a base material. You may also use our bagged product as a base material to help stabilize your pavers or flagstones, but this is by no mean necessary.

Q18. How do I get excess material off the surface of my pavers when it has stabilized to the surface of my pavers?
To remove stabilized EnviroSAND from the surface of your pavers or stabilized EnviroSTONE from the surface of your flagstones, simply wet the material with a sufficient amount of water and use a flathead screwdriver or small putty knife. After the material removed from the paver, rinse the immediate area with water.

Q19. What type of traffic can your product(s) withstand after installation?
Our product(s) can withstand stresses applied by frequent small vehicular, foot, and bicycle traffic. Keep in mind that the lifetime that you receive from our product is in part dependant on the amount of traffic or stress that it receives on a regular basis.

Q20. Why are there lossened particles from the EnviroSTONE on the surface of my flagstones?
It must first be recognized that most flagstones have uneven surfaces and the EnviroSTONE depth will only remain as deep as the lowest part of the flagstone surface. As well, the impact caused by regular foot traffic and heavy rainfall may loosen the uppermost aggregate particles from the EnviroSTONE. Do not be alarmed if this happens as only a small amount becomes detached from the joint, and the majority will remain stabilized in place. If regular sweeping of your flagstone surface becomes necessary, it may be time to replace the old EnviroSTONE with new EnviroSTONE.

Q21. Will your product(s) be harmful to the flowers and plants in my gardens?
No, our product(s) will not be harmful to the flowers and plants in your surrounding gardens. The weed deterrant additive in our product(s) is held in place by the organic binder and does not effect the environment surrounding an application of our product(s).

Q22. Will your product be harmful to my pets?
A22. No, our product(s) are not at all harmful to your pets.

Q23. How long will your product(s) last before I have to follow up with maintenance procedures?
The lifetime of our product(s) is influenced by the amount of traffic that it is subjected to on a regular basis and the climatic conditions that it experiences. Those two variables can be very diverse, so it is often difficult to gauge the question at hand. Generally speaking, you will find that the product(s) will be maintenance free for about 2 to 3 years. For the jointing products, simple maintenance procedures involve adding new loose material to the joints and saturating the new material with a mist; the new material will effectively stabilize to the old material to become on stabilized mass in the joints. For the EnviroPAVE material, simply add loose material to the damaged areas, tamp it, and saturate the new material along with the surrounding old material to effectively achieve stabilization.

Q24. Can I use a dye on your product?
No, we do not recommend using a dye to colour any of our products. The colour that is provided by our products is the natural colour of the aggregate, which will always remain in tact.