Weed-Free Driveways and Sidewalks: The Ultimate Solution!

how's it going you guys it's Scott with everyday home repairs I want to help you address a super common mate inside them in the growing season around our house and that is where you have an expansion joint maybe on your driveway or your sidewalks or maybe it's just a crack that's formed over time and you keep getting grass weeds or really any other type of vegetation that just keeps growing up through that and no matter how many times you pull out these weeds or you spray them they just come back in a couple weeks so I have two of my main culprits here right at the entrance of my driveway that I'm going to address today one we're going to clean this up and get a semi-permanent solution this should solve your problem for an entire season but then two we'll put in the permanent solution we'll knock this one off your to-do's so you can focus on those other projects around the house so let's jump into it now it could be as simple as this we just need to dig out the grass and weeds you could use an old flathead screwdriver like this it's going to be pretty labor intensive and you want to really dig down to get out those roots as well well now if you do have a string trimmer you can kind of go across these Expansion Joints like an edging operation where you're not only cutting down the vegetation but you're also kicking out some of that soil or debris that's within the expansion joint itself but even with using your string trimmer you're probably going to be left with something looking like this where you still have quite a bit of soil built up and this is kind of like a planter box it's pretty perfect for vegetation so to make sure we do not have that ideal scenario go ahead and grab your garden hose and work your way down the expansion joint shooting the stream right down the expansion joint where you're able to actually get out quite a bit of that material where you can dig down a couple inches below the concrete surface start from your high side and then work that dirt down to the low side this low side being the street in this case so I'll work the rest of the dirt off of that surface and then move on to my second expansion joint taking your time and really just let the water do the work if you shoot that stream right down the expansion joint kind of horizontally you'll see it start to hit the hard surface of that packed soil and do be careful because this can blow back at you and get you wet or muddy in the process and then you'll slowly work your way down and this will make quick work of all of that dirt debris and soil in these Expansion Joints cleaning everything out and then after a little dry time will be ready for the next step so now things have dried out and for that temporary solution what should last you about six months is just now sprinkling in some Preen into this actual expansion joint now if you need a reference you can look at the link below this video to our Amazon store and in the exterior section you'll see this product and the other products that we feature throughout this video for your reference to use on your own projects at home so we'll just go through and sprinkle this out letting it sit in that crack and then really that is it now for this temporary solution when it rains again more dirt and debris will fill back in this expansion joint but the Preen granules should stay in that soil helping to prevent any of those weeds growing by killing it at the root but for that permanent solution let's go ahead and actually seal off these Expansion Joints making sure no water or light gets into the expansion joint that would promote any of that weed growth you'll want to check and see what the actual Gap measurement is you can use a tape measure but I just use a Carpenter's pencil because it's actually half inch by a quarter of an inch and just makes for a good reference now for mine it's mostly a half inch so that means that I would want to get backer rod which is the first step in this process of 5 8 of an inch but also it's good to have some a little bit larger so I'll get 5 8 that's the small one there 5 8 in diameter and three quarters of an inch because you want the backer rod to be tight in the actual Gap when you press it in place so I'll go through and use that Carpenter's pencil again just to press that backer rod down and really what you're trying to do is get the backer rod consistently about a quarter of an inch below that concrete surface the lower of the two concrete surfaces so I can just slide that Carpenter's pencil along remember it's one quarter of an inch so it makes again for just a good reference mark now I'll stress again needs to be tight in the Gap if you do not make your back Rod tight in the Gap you would get something that looks like this with a baccarat actually floats up and the sealant goes around it and does not equal the end product that you want so I'll go ahead and keep going through with my 5 8 of an inch backer rod and I'm leaving small sections open those sections are a little bit larger so I'd come back through with the three eight sorry three quarters of an inch backer rod filling those in where needed now you want to press those two sections that interface of back Rod together please remember we don't want to leave any holes which can cause issues to the final fit and finish so like most projects success is really in the prep work so if that backer rod is in place it's firm it's not going to float up to the top you're ready to put on your sealant two different products I use I use a Sika self leveling product whenever I have a completely horizontal surface and no slope this is a great product it's held up for me for multiple years on some of the other cracks that I've repaired on this channel also I really like the tremco Vulcan 45 SSL I'm actually going to use that on this one crack right in the middle because it has a little bit of a slope where I would not want to use the Seca because the Seca will pool to one side if you're not careful and again you will find those that are Amazon store for your reference I'm using the 29 ounce tubes but just know if you have a smaller job you usually can get the standard 10 ounce tubes as well and the tremco is a limestone it's not ideal mixing matching colors but also show you a trick to help blend those into your driveway itself now starting off you'll just want to take your time and I do kind of support the tip of the tube on the concrete which helps me evenly apply this is self leveling so it will settle down it doesn't have to be perfect in terms of your application now it is so windy outside today as I am actually sprinkling on some sand pretty much right away usually I'd want to wait 30 45 minutes to let it set up a little bit and then I'd sprinkle on the sand but today because I don't want sticks and leaves and petals and dirt to blow into the caulk and then get stuck in there I'm placing sand on it pretty much right away now that sand is going to help to blend so that's that key of since I had the gray zika which I'm using in these longer cracks and then I had the Limestone tremco the sand is going to help that blend in and you'll see it in the finished product you want to take your time I have got a few issues in the past ran into a few issues when I was trying to apply this in direct sunlight when it was about 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher what I've seen is it can bubble a little bit and then just your overall finish isn't the best so it is about 65 degrees Fahrenheit outside it's super windy which is not ideal but applying that sand on top does help to minimize the amount of things that are going to blow across and then stick into that while it's setting up now complete these two cracks sprinkle on that sand and then I will get the tremco product out I wish I had a 10 ounce tube because this is just a nice short little run to put the tremco but here's the finished product and you'll see how it Blends in the Seca with a thin coating of sand on top of it really helps blend that into the driveway and then transitioning to that perpendicular crack there which is the tremco 45 SSL and Limestone which looks pretty great now believe it or not a normal pool noodle is just a monster backer rod so if some of your cracks are irregular in shape and larger than one inch in diameter check out the video right here and I'll show you how I use the pool noodle to fix a large crack at one of my rental properties so thanks for joining me on this video and we'll catch you on that next one take care

Channel: Everyday Home Repairs

Views: 3,409,840

Keywords: removing weeds from sidewalk cracks, removing weeds from driveway cracks, everyday home repairs, outdoor maintenance

Id: NNHXOIVCX1M

Length: 8min 35sec (515 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 20 2023