In our opinion, that would be like somebody telling you not to wax your car. Of course, you don’t have to wax your car but . . . (See the next question “Why should I seal my pavers?”)

Sealing your pavers has several benefits:

• Helps protect paver colors from fading
• Enhances whatever color is remaining in your pavers
• Helps to prevent erosion of the paver’s surface
• Offers resistance to algae and mold
• Offers protection from staining
• Makes pavers much easier for you to keep clean

The overwhelming response we’ve gotten from customers who have tried to seal their pavers themselves is, “I’ll never do that again!”

Here are some things to consider if you are thinking about cleaning and sealing your pavers yourself:

• Do you have access to professional grade equipment and have the knowledge to properly clean and prepare the surfaces for sealing? (Unless your pavers are unusually clean, your little home rig probably won’t do the job.)
• Do you know which sealer is appropriate for your type of pavers? Be sure you get premium, professional-grade sealer if you want it to last (not the stuff from the big box store).
• Do you have access to the proper application equipment and do you know how to apply the proper amount (not too much, not too little)?
• Do you know how to keep your sealer from turning white?
• If you plan to do a standard 1500sqft driveway and have never done this before, it might be wise to allot your entire weekend (at least).
• Have plenty of Gatorade on hand and be prepared to sweat your b_tt off and get very dirty

. . . otherwise call us

That will depend on several factors including the size of the job, the difficulty, type of sealer being used, etc. (Remember we always offer our free, no obligation, on-site consultation and estimate.) One thing that is for sure, enhancing and protecting your pavers is pennies on the dollar compared to replacing them. We can tell you that our minimum charge for a cleaning and sealing job is $595.00.

The general purpose sealers that most homeowners, handymen and even some other sealing contractors use might only last 6-8 months in our harsh South Florida environment. Our commercial grade sealers last 2-3 years and sometimes longer (that’s up to 4 times longer than some general purpose sealers – a better value for you!).

While sealing may help to keep weeds away for a while, honestly they will eventually come back. Like Jeff Goldblum said in the movie Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.” . . . especially weeds and ants.

Sealing does have an inhibiting affect when it comes to mold and algae!

Our sealers are plant safe.

Pavers typically whiten when xylene or solvent-based sealers are used. If these sealers are applied before the pavers become bone-dry there is a serious possibility the pavers will whiten.

We use only water-based sealers so whiting won’t happen.

After sealing some pavers, primarily travertine and natural stone pavers, can become slippery when they are wet. To avoid this problem we have special sealers designed to avoid this problem.

So the answer is, done correctly, sealing will not make your pavers slippery.

In the past, we sealed pretty much every paver sealing job we did with the thinking this “stabalized” the pavers. While there may be some truth to this, the overwhelming reason pavers start to move is when the concrete border around the edge of the pavers begins to disintegrate. 

In reality the vast majority of pavers jobs do not need this sanding “stabilization.” For this reason we typically don’t do “sanding” on our sealing jobs.

That said, some people do like to have the paver joints sanded for aesthetic purposes. In this case we can sand your pavers . . . at an extra charge.

If your pavers are moving, we can arrange repairing the concrete  border and having your pavers set back in their proper place.

Our recommendations are:

• You can walk on your pavers when they are no longer tacky (a couple to a few hours, depending on the weather).
• Replace your patio furniture 24 hours after sealing.
• Replace rugs 48+ hours after sealing.
• Keep vehicles off pavers for 48 hours after sealing.