Jointing and Pointing for Stone Paving - Resin Jointing Mortars

Introduction:

While site-mixed cement-based mortars were blotting their copybook over umpteen decades of indifferent performance, those looking for a reliable alternative let their beady gaze fall upon the burgeoning trade in high performance resins, and epoxy-based resins in particular. Here was a product with a proven track record for bonding and durability. By incorporating a suitable filler material, these resins could be the alternative to cement-based mortars that the industry so desperately needed.

Epoxy resins are not particularly cheap. Indeed, compared to a standard site-mixed cement-based mortar, they are frighteningly expensive, roughly ten-to-twenty times the price per kilo, but what you get for your money is performance, and when the cost of ripping-up and replacing a pavement that has failed due to poor quality cement mortar is considered, many engineers and specifiers came to accept that it was a price worth paying.

It should be noted that not all resin-based jointing mortars rely on an epoxy resin. Several lower-strength products use various different chemicals, including polybutadiene, to 'glue together' the filler content (usually a sand). Similarly, the term "epoxy resin" encompasses a relatively wide range of products and there is no one 'standard' material. Different brands use different resins, hardeners and fillers and it would be impossible to document all the variations that are available. Instead, the two more popular types are considered: information on the alternatives should be readily available from the manufacturer/supplier.

Those two more popular types of resin-based mortars are the (semi) dry brush-in (sometimes referred to as a "polymeric" or a "one part resin mortar"), and the slurry grouts which are usually a two-part or two-component resin mortar.

The polymeric brush-in type of product tends to be a lower strength product more suitable for use on patios, lightly-trafficked driveways and low-use pedestrian areas, while the mixed on-site slurry-applied grouts tend to be much stronger and ideally suited to larger driveways, public plazas and anywhere open to vehicular traffic.

Polymerics and slurried resin mortar both have their pros and cons, and different installation techniques, so these are covered on separate pages.

These pages are supplemented by a series of Product Studies looking at different applications and uses for a range of mortars from various leading manufacturers:

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