Be it a pool deck, driveway, patio or walkway, your pavers should be maintained on a regular basis to keep them looking as beautiful as the day they were installed.
First, do a visual inspection for 'sagging' areas where water will collect and pool. These areas are often caused by water, from a hose or rain, washing earth, foundation material and sand into a hollow space below the paver foundation. Once pooling is noticeable, these sagging areas often widen quickly do to the increase of water draining in these areas. It's important for the hollow to be filled and stabilized before leveling the pavers, otherwise you can be performing the same task next year. To fix this situation can be tricky. First, remove the sagging pavers, find the hollow and fill it with a foundation material. Next, you want to tamp or pack the foundation material to within two inches of the bottom of the existing pavers. Fill the remaining 2 inches with sand and tamp it level with the bottom of the existing pavers and replace the removed pavers.
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After fixing any sagging areas, look for individual pavers that are sitting higher or lower than the surrounding pavers. A paver that sits higher can often be leveled by using a rubber mallet to force it into its proper position. If it's too high or doesn't move, you may have to remove it so you can remove some of the sand that's below the paver. If it sits low, you'll have to remove it to add sand until it's level. To remove the paver, you can purchase a paver removal tool or you can use a small pry bar to loosen the paver and lift it out of its space, being careful not to crack or chip the paver.
If any pavers have been removed, you'll want to sand those areas before proceeding.
It's a good idea to pressure wash the surface on a yearly basis. Pressure Washing cleans the surface of your pavers and also remove much of the organic material growing between the pavers. Removing the organic material reduces the amount of bugs living in your paver area and helps keep the pavers stable.
Inspect the joints of the pavers for sand loss. If the sand is more than ¼ inch below the joint surface, you'll have to "re-sand" the pavers. To re-sand, you must use paver sand. You can buy this in bags at Lowes and Home Depot or at a brick yard. Spread the sand our on the pavers and using a push broom, sweep the sand back and forth at a 45 degree angle from the joint lines until the level is 1/4th to 1/8th of an inch to the top of the joint surface.
After the pavers have been adjusted, cleaned and re-sanded (and every time after re-sanding) you want to seal your pavers with a good quality sealer. Sealing your pavers will protect the pavers from most kind staining and it will harden the joint sand, locking your pavers into place and preventing anthills and weeds from growing between pavers. A good quality sealer will prevent a haze from forming on the paver surface caused from moisture in the paver when sealing. If you currently see a haze on the surface of your pavers from previous sealing, you'll have to strip the existing sealer before applying new sealer.
Maintaining Your Pavers Lowes
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