Concrete Pavers Guide

While concrete pavers don’t necessarily need to be sealed in order to stay beautiful for many years, periodic sealing will help keep them in prime condition for longer. So if you’re not interested in putting time and effort into maintaining your patio, walkway, or driveway, you don’t necessarily have to, but any investment you do make will be paid off in the increased beauty and longevity of your installation. But if you’re going to try sealing pavers yourself, where do you start? Here is a brief guide to get you oriented.

Benefits of Sealing Pavers

If you do decide to preserve your paving stone project, you’ll be offered many benefits. First, the sealant coating will help protect the surface of the project from stains, especially from nasty ones like oil and grease. Granted, if a paver did get irreversibly stained, you could simply remove and replace it, but this helps you avoid doing that potentially time consuming process. Instead, the stain will sit on the surface of the paver, just waiting to be washed or brushed out, making cleaning pavers much more easier than if they were unprotected.

The sealer will also protect the pavers against a variety of elements that would work to damage their structural integrity and the brilliance of their color. Sealer helps protect against water, one of the main things that can adamge your project. It also gives the pavers general protection against the elements – snow, wind, ice, and general foot and vehicle traffic. The entire structure becomes more durable and strong when it is covered with the sealer. Thus, your pavers will last longer, both structurally and aesthetically.

Finally, properly applied sealer will help protect the sand in between the joints. This sand usually gets scooped out by water and wind, but sealer will help keep the sand in place, lowering the chances that the project will weaken. In addition, it helps prevent the formation of weeds or anthills in the paver joints. All in all, it actually can help reduce the amount of maintenance you’d have to do than if you had to spend your time removing weeds and anthills from your paver project.

Types of Paver Sealers

There are two main kinds of sealers available. The first only forms a slight film over the surface of the pavers. In this class are your epoxy, polyurethane, and acrylic sealers. These work well to protect the pavers against surface stains, but they do not offer many more robust benefits for the strength of the paver. The gloss finish will help improve the look of the pavers by bringing out their natural colors.

The other kind of sealant is the ‘penetrating’ variety. This kind of sealer not only coats the surface but also actively penetrates into the top part of the brick. These offer both the protection against stains and water as well as more significant buffs to the durability, strength, and overall beauty of the stones.

Note that certain sealers work better on different surfaces. Concrete, concrete block, stamped concrete, and concrete pavers, for instance will use one type of sealer, suited more towards concrete, while you will have to use a brick paver sealer for clay paver bricks. There are also sealers meant more for indoor applications, such as concrete floor sealers. Always read the instructions and warnings before using a sealant on an area, and always test it on an inconspicuous area of the installation before going full scale.

What to Look for In Sealer Products

What should you look for in a concrete paver sealer? First, make sure that it will allow water to escape. If you trap water in the brick or below the surface of the installation, you’ll have tons of problems with heaving and efflorescence.

There are literally hundreds of different sealers on the market, so it’s hard to say which one is the “best,” given that some will be more compatible than others. You don’t necessarily need a ‘paver’ sealer – a concrete sealer will do just fine, given that your pavers are made from concrete. Go to a local home improvement store, such as Home Depot or Lowe’s, or contact your contractor, paver manufacturer, or local mason supply yard. Certain brands of pavers may also recommend particular sealers as well. Once you buy a sealer, you may want to do a little research to find reviews to make sure there are no other horror stories from unsatisfied customers.

As for cost, you’ll usually pay around $25 to $40 per gallon of sealer. How much should you buy? This depends on the size of your project, obviously, as well on the particular brand. The ranges are usually 100 feet to 300 feet per gallon, but check the particular product.

Paver installations – driveways, patios, walkways, etc. – are very low maintenance to start. They will last for years with only marginal upkeep. If you wanted them to totally be left alone, you could do this and not worry about the structure falling apart (like concrete) or looking absolutely awful (like asphalt).

Still, you may be wondering how to keep your investment looking as beautiful and strong as the day you got it. One way to further improve and maintain the look and durability of your pavers is by using a sealer. Over time, depending on the brand of paver, wind, water, and the sun might make the colors fade. Joint sand can begin to disappear, and weeds and ants can start invading your installation. Sealing pavers is a great way to prevent or reduce these unwanted effects of time. This article will explain how to seal pavers and give some hints and tips to get the biggest bang for your buck and time.

Why You Want to Seal Pavers in the First Place

There are many reasons to use sealers on your paving stones. Sealers protect your pavers from stains and water damage. The “finish” of the particular sealer may increase the beauty of the paving stone, bringing out the colors vividly. It will also make it easier to maintain, as you can easily wash away any dirt, and weeds and ants become significantly reduced. The sealer can also harden the sand in the joints, making the whole patio, driveway, or walkway even more solid. This also prevents water and ants and wind from scooping out the sand between the joints, requiring you to constantly replace and refill the sand. Sealers can be applied every year or every two years, when possible. In general, a good seal will last you around 2-4 years, though you can do it whenever you think the appearance or durability of the project requires it. However, do not seal your paving stones until the efflorescence (white chalky material) has disappeared from the pavers. This can take about three months occur. The reason for this is that the sealer not only keeps things out – it also keeps them in. Thus, the pavers won’t be able to breath to help get rid of the white chalky material if they’ve been sealed up tight.

How to Seal Pavers Effectively – the Materials

If you decide to go about paver sealing, there are some steps you should follow. First, make sure the installation is clean. You can use acids to do this, but some acids (like muriatic acid) are harsh. Look for masonry cleaners instead. Power washing will also help drastically – look for a washer that can deliver 2400 psi or more.

Clean Before Sealing Pavers

First, give the area a good clean. Make sure no heavy dirt, weeds, stones, and other objects are on the project. Use the power washer to remove surface dirt. When power washing, spread the water from the highest point down in order to push the water down the grade. Some sand will be removed from the joints, but make sure it’s not too much.You will also want to make sure any stains or dirt is removed from the surface before you start sealing concrete pavers. This may require you to do some spot cleaning of particularly troublesome stains – otherwise the stains will be ‘trapped’ underneath the sealer, and it will be difficult or impossible to remove them after the fact.

Also make sure that there are no broken or cracked pavers, and that no settling or other damage has occurred to the project. If there is, fix it before proceeding. Finally, sweep in more joint sand in order to replace any that has been lost, either over time or because of your cleaning. You should spend a lot of time on this part of the process – the more you invest here, the better the final product will look. Don’t rush! If you feel like doing a substandard job, you could outsource this to a contractor who will (hopefully!) do the job right.

Prep is Done – Let’s Complete the Job

After letting the patio, driveway, walkway etc. stand for a few days to dry and settle, you may begin to seal pavers. With the water-based paver sealer you obtained from a store or the internet, follow the directions written for that particular sealer. Each sealer will have varying instructions, but pay attention to how it should be applied, how many coats, how long it should stand, etc. Use a sprayer, roller, or brush to evenly apply the sealer on the surface of the installation. Do not use too much, as this could damage the project. Make sure the area is dry before walking on it.

WARNING: When selecting any cleaner or sealer to use on your pavers, check with the manufacturer to make sure that the product won’t do any harm to the paving stones. Always consult with your local contractor or manufacturer when you are considering sealing pavers. Some may not recommend it for you, given the climate, paver brand, or installation features. If too much sealant is used, water can get trapped – pavers need to breathe!