Cleaning and sealing concrete brick pavers sounds like a pretty easy thing to do. The truth is that it is an involved process and without the proper training, tools and materials it is very easy to screw up. Just take a look at the photos below of work that others have tried and failed at.
This picture was taken at a residence in St. Charles, IL where the homeowner hired his lawn care company to clean,install polymeric sand and seal his brick paver driveway, patio and walkway. They did not properly install the polymeric joint sand, leaving too much in the joints and some even on the surface of the pavers. This is what caused the wide white joints that look like failing grout lines. They then sealed with a wet look brick paver sealer before the surface of the brick pavers were dry leading to the white haze on the surface of the pavers.
The lawncare company was unable to fix the problem and left with the money in their pocket and this homeowner out close to $4,000. These problems are avoidable by hiring properly trained and equipped contractors. The only good news here is that the mistakes are fixable by stripping and resanding and sealing the brick pavers. Although it is costly it is not much compared to the $60,000 worth of pavers on this large area.
The below picture is an example of a contractor that does not pay attention to detail and leaves sloppuy work behind. The paver patio was sealed with a wet look sealer and the wall was not sealed. You can see the bottom of the wall has sealer on it where the roller bumped up against it. This just looks sloppy and unattractive. The proper was to seal this would be to either cut in with a bruch or tape off the wall. Paver Protector always recomends sealing sitting walls to match the pavers and for the protection the sealer offers. The sloppyness of the landscaper that was hired for this job will be around for years to come and seen by all who use the patio.
This picture shows what happens when someone with the wrong power washing equipment trys to clean a dirty patio. The light marks are where the wand from the pressure washer was directed. Becuase they used too narrow of a tip with pressure too high, these areas were not only cleaned but worn down by the high pressure. The marks will lighten when properly cleaned by Paver Protector’s state of the art hot water cleaning equipment but will never completly dissapear. The pressure washer used to ruin this surface was one bought at Home Depot by a local landscaper. Just becuase they can install brick paver hardscapes does not mean they can properly clean and seal them.
Last but not least is an example of what happens when the person sweeping joint sand in gets lazy. The joints of brick pabvers are meant to be filled to the bottom of the chanfer and not to the top or level with the top of the paver. It is hard work sweeping all of the sand to the correct height and getting the sand and dust off of the surface of the pavers but it is key to having a great looking paver surface. The lawncare guy that did this quickly sept in polymeric sand and then sealed over it with wet look sealer. Since the sand hardens with water and the sealer hardens it additionally bonding it to the surface the only solution here was to strip the pavers and clean out the old sand with hot, high pressure water and redo the entire sand and seal process.
As evidenced above, a jack of all trades is a master of none. Not only did these unfortunate homeowners have to pay the original contractor that screwed up the job, they had to pay to remove the work of the old contractor and then pay to have everything done all over again. Hiring the right contractor for brick paver cleaning and sealing is critical. Click this link to learn 5 Things You Need to Know Before Hiring A Brick Paver Cleaning & Sealing Company
Paver Protector specializes in the cleaning, sanding and selaing of concrete and clay brick paver driveways, patios and walkways. Paver Protector’s main service areas are northern Illinois including Barrington, Inverness, Palatine, Schaumburg, St. Charles, Geneva, Huntley, Batavia, West Chicago, the Fox River Valley and more. View all of Paver Protector’s service areas here.
