Question
QUESTION: First Thank you for your time!  Just in case I forget to thank you thought I should get that over with.

Now Question or problem concern:

I live in Tropic Isle in Delray Beach and have red brick around my pool and patio.  I also live on a canal with a sea wall.  What maintenance needs to be done and how often to the sea wall to protect brick paving and pool?  Why does the brick paving sink with time?  I am California woman and need to understand this.  I purchased the house almost 7 years ago.  Had some of the paving straightened out by handyman once in the first year of living there.  Haven't done anything to the sea wall and the patio is now sinking, uneven and I don't really understand how this happens.  

Please explain this to me?  

Thank you,

Sharon


ANSWER: Tropic Isle, Delray Beach, Florida is filled with beautiful homes. When the everglades were drained in the 20抯, and the island was separated from the mainland by the Inter-coastal Waterway, what was left was a sandy, salty strip of land with a low water table...Beautiful as it may be, it is subject to subsidence, or movement of the soil, which if I had to guess, is the problem with your 搒inking?brickwork.  

There is no quick cure for drooping walls, pools, or pavers.  My advice would be to consult a local civil engineer/Landscape Architect to make sure your home or backyard are not slowly creeping into the waterway.  There are ways to prevent further subsidence, but the Engineer/Landscape Architect could tell you what works best in your area. He/she can also tell you if it is a big problem of not.  It is somewhat difficult for me at this distance, and not standing in your yard to see for myself, to determine how good or bad is the situation.

In severe cases, I抳e seen people use pilings (both concrete & wood), special screws (really big ones), and sheets of metal driven into the ground.  It may simply be redirecting the water AWAY from the area that is slumping into the ground, or there was a tree next to the wall and the roots have rotted away. Standing water and voids in the subgrade make things settle unexpectedly.  

Check the yellow pages under Civil Engineer, Consulting Engineer, or Landscape Architect (sorry, but not a landscape contractor or designer) An hour worth of their time (say, $100-$200) can help you determine your next response to the situation.  It may be that a landscape contractor will do the work to correct the problem, but in Florida, state licensure is an important pre-requisite to make sure the problem isn抰 addressed cosmetically ?Which sounds like what happened the first time.  

How does it happen?  Here is a link if you want to know more:  http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgwlandsubside.html

I notice that your area in the south eastern Florida is prone to it ?I doubt your situation is as bad as the scary pictures in the link, however.

Hope it helps. ~Marc


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Marc,

Thank you again for your information.  

Can you tell me what causes the moss or mold to grow between the bricks even in sandy hot conditions.  

Sharon

Answer
Mosses and molds are very happy being warm and moist!  "Like pigs in slop", as my grand-mother used to day.  Here is a conversation string regarding its removal - Various methods suggested:

http://askville.amazon.com/clean-moldy-mossy-brick-walkway/AnswerViewer.do?reque

Mosses, algae, and molds are transferred by spores and cell-division.  Nothing you can do to stop them from landing on outdoor surfaces.  All you can do is create an environment that is hostile to their further growth.  The suggestions are bleach and soap-based.  Watch out for creating a slippery result when finished.

~Marc