ᐅ Patio and driveway

On the terrace, however, there are constantly ants and sand, which then get carried upstairs. And the grass also grows along the edges.

With proper crushed sand, it’s not possible for anything to come through from below. Did you do it yourself? Because if it’s properly compacted, nothing will come through.

Nothing grows from below if it’s professionally installed (gravel/crushed sand). What you see in the joints comes from above and is unavoidable, unless you fill the joints with a cement-like jointing compound (which is often done with small bricks, for example).

Ask the landscaper... they plan their logistics.

As long as you don’t have to pay for it in the end, it doesn’t really matter to you. Otherwise, there’s no reason to remove and relay the recycled material.

No, both were professionally done by two different landscape contractors...

I don’t know whether the grass comes from below, above, left, or right... but the fact is, with gravel there’s nothing at the edge of the sand lawn.

Grass at the edge? The edge (the last row) is usually bordered with concrete. Otherwise, the border can easily bend or break when stepped on.

No, not the runner row but the next one... Unfortunately, I scraped out the joints last week, so I can’t show how it looked... and the ants are everywhere, front, back, and even in the middle... they are repelled successfully again and again, but usually only for one season.

That is of course frustrating. Grass grows in the joint right up against the curb because you spread grass seed on it when sowing the lawn. Nothing grows from underneath there. Anything can grow directly in the joints themselves. This is unavoidable and has nothing to do with the substrate. The only solutions are fewer joints or sealing them with cement.

No, definitely not, partly because it was sown sparsely and everything was pressed down immediately... the first year everything was perfect... and even if it comes from above, the problem with ants remains... there are none in the gravel but plenty in the sand.

Also, the number of joints doesn’t matter, whether I have one joint or ten... if the base allows vegetation, it will grow even with just a few joints.

For me, the only difference is really the base layer... all the stones are the same... the same joint sand was used... both were carefully compacted, etc., and in both cases there is vegetation growing around the stones, meaning grass.