Paver Tip: Sweep in Joint Sand to Winterize Your Pavers

Necessary paver maintenance for Winter

If your pavers patio, walkway, driveway, porch, etc.. is in need of paver joint sand this Fall, this is an important time to perform this brick paver maintenance service.  One of the most important steps in winterizing your pavers is making sure the paver joints are filled with joint sand.

Winter snow, ice, and melt off will run into paver joints that are not filled with joint sand and may create preventable settling, erosion, or heaving.  I gave some suggestions for preparing your pavers for Winter in an earlier post about winterizing brick pavers. A quick review will  help you insure long-term performance of your paving stones patio, walkway, or driveway.



Paver joint sand creates friction between paving stones causing vertical and rotating interlock to occur.  Paver joints play a cushioning role in preventing damage between paver to paver contact.  Angular or course joint sand will prevent sand movement and help sand retention in the paver joints, thus avoiding long term erosion or settling of your patio paving stones.

It is so simple to just sweep in paver joint sand. In the Fall, you can just concentrate on sweeping paver joint sand in the areas that are in need of joint sand.  Touch-up sweepings throughout the year will save you unnecessary paver repairs over the years. Neglect of this simple brick paver maintenance requirement will result in costly paver repairs.  So during this Halloween season, grab a broom from a witch and sprinkle in some paver joint sand from Lowe's and start brewing.

Common Paver Driveway Repair: Ruts into Garage

Interlocking pavers are perfect for driveways in Ann Arbor

We performed a brick paver driveway repair this week in Ann Arbor. This paver repair is a common repair you see not only for interlocking pavers, but also for cement, gravel, or asphalt driveways. Look at your current transition area between your driveway and cement floor and I am sure you have experienced imperfections, settling, chipping,and / or gaps.

Driveway ruts leading into the garage are very common and somewhat of a mystery.  Years ago I began reinforcing this area of pavers directly in front of the garage floor by installing extra layers of grid within the base material that was installed & increased layers of compaction.  I have seen good results but this area of a driveway, whether using brick pavers or not, seems to be susceptible to repairs or visible stress.

I have concluded that because this is an area of transition from one pavement, paving stones, to another pavement, usually cement, there is added load stress or frost damge.  One conclusion is that base material under the paving stones may slide under the cement floor of the garage during freeze thaw cycles. Another reason may be the load transfer from the cement surface to the paving stones creates vertical and/or lateral load force that stresses the paving stone & paver base material.

By adding additional reinforcement products like geo-textile fabric (below the base) and strata-grid (within layers of the base), extra layers of compaction (2-3" lifts), and stronger paver laying patterns (herringbone or random joints) have help eliminate the severity of this common brick paver repair. 

This paver driveway repair we performed in Ann Arbor this past week had approx. 8ft long ruts leading into all 3 garage door entrances.  When performing this paver repair, it is necessary to lift up the entire stretch across the garage floor, not just where the ruts exist.  Another brick paver contractor recommended to this customer that they lift and repair the actual rut areas only.  I easily showed the customer with a carpenter's level that the areas in between the ruts are usually raised and the paving stones are tilted.  The whole area in front of the garage was compromised and needed proper attention.

We lifted up the entire paving stone area in front of the garage, re-compacted the base, added more base material, screeded the area for proper pitch, and re-installed the pavers.  I expect that the problem of having future driveway ruts will be minimal but not entirely impossible. This paver repair will reinforce the area for years to come. 



When we were completed with this driveway repair, there was not visible evidence that this area had been repaired. This is the long-term benefit and beauty of using interlocking brick pavers for your next driveway installation!

Redesign & Restoration of Homeowner's Brick Paver Patio

Brick Pavers allow for easy add-ons & redesign possibilities

We just completed this brick paver patio redesign & restoration in Ypsilanti that the homeowner installed himself years ago.  The homeowner had built their home on a tight budget and needed a serviceable patio for his family, so he installed a simple square paver patio under his upper level deck .  Now five years later, it was time to complete their dream of a beautiful & functional paver patio under their deck so they could expand their Outdoor Living space.

We started by keeping in the current installed paver patio by the homeowner by restoring and repairing areas that needed attention. This saved the homeowner considerable costs since we did not need to completely reinstall his paver installation.  After restoring, we reswept in new paver joint sand and recompacted the pavers with a power plate compactor to relevel & relock the paving stones.

Our redesign of the paver patio included adding on additional paving stones to make the patio area under the deck larger & more functional for the homeowner's needs.  We also created a design layout that best utilized the new paving stones with the old paving stones currently installed.  The finished paver installation was a success by meeting our client's overall objective and appearance expectations.

Interlocking pavers are one of the most versatile pavements or products for Outdoor Living spaces  when it comes to modifications, redesign, add-ons, or replacement. Cement, asphalt, wooden decks, etc..  are much more restrictive and show ill effects if repaired, modified, or replaced. Given the variable of time, interlocking pavers and modular retaining wall systems offer the the best economical, appearance, and functional choice. A good brick paver contractor will specialize in coming up with redesign solutions that utilize your current paver products and materials that will result in cost savings to you.

Brick Paver Joint Sand: Change in my Recommendation

#1 Brick Paver Maintenance Requirement

For years now I have preached to my clients, "Do NOT sweep play sand into your brick paver joints!".  Well, I have a slight change in my recommendation for this yearly brick pavers maintenance requirement.  Play Sand generally is a fluffy yellow sand with very little granular substance to assist in bonding. In Ann Arbor, this type of sand graduation will splash or blow out of brick paver joints and make your experience with interlocking pavers frustrating. Silica Sand also does not perform well as a paver joint sand.

As mentioned in early posts, keeping your paver joints filled with joint sand is a crucial yearly requirement for the long-term performance of paver patios, walkways, driveways, porches, etc.. . Paver joint sand is essential in keeping proper lock-up of the paving stones and help deter the effects of erosion, settling, and weed growth.

Most brick paver manufacturers distribute an approved paver joint sand that is either privately labeled or from a national supplier.  Obviously these products are an approved paver joint sand to use for your interlocking pavers project but usually carry an unnecessary cost and not readily available to you geographically.

For the last 10 years I have been recommending and using Quikcrete's "all purpose sand" for paver joint sweeping. This all purpose sand had a similar sand graduation (sieve rate) as the more costly paver manufacturer's joint sand and is also screened, washed, and dried.  These processes are important to remove unwanted substances like dirt, weed seeds, and silt.

This past Spring I started to notice that  Quikcrete's "all purpose sand" was beginning to have a larger sand graduation (sieve rate) which was allowing larger pebbles to be present in the mix. These larger pebbles of sand either do not sweep into the paver joints or lodge themselves in the joint, thus not allowing proper filling of the paver joints.  We found ourselves having to discard about of 1/3rd of each bag. This was not only inconvenient but eliminated any cost savings.

I did some further investigation and discovered that Quikcrete's "Premium" play sand had a similar sand graduation (sieve rate) to the paver manufacturer's paver joint sand. It also is screened, washed, and dried. Unlike cheap or the original fluffy play sand, this "premium" play sand has a granular mix to assist in bonding & lock-up. It also has enough sand fines to allow for easy and successful filling of paver joints. 

I do want to say that I am not recommending "all" play sands. My investigation at this point has only concluded that Quikcrete's "Premium" play sand is an acceptable joint sand for your brick paver joints.


At Lowe's and Home Depot, this play sand runs @ $3.50 per bag. This is a considerable savings from the $7.50-$8 / bag for paver manufacturer joint sand bags. I understand that there is a cost for private labels and convenience, but this is an unnecessary cost for clients who can easily obtain an acceptable replacement at a local hardware store.

Brick Paver Steps Down to Basement Walkout Patio Replaced

New Brick Pavers Steps lead to Paver Patio

In Ann Arbor this past week, we replaced some unsightly and dangerous patio block steps that had deteriorated and eroded. These dilapidated steps lead down to a basement walkout paver patio that was also repaired and increased in size.  The step replacement was the customer's immediate need for our services.

The old brick steps were loose, sunken, and slippery which all contributed to an unsafe path down to the brick paver patio.  I see these make shift steps all the time leading from an upper grade down to the lower level.  A good design and execution of installing proper paver steps is essential for long-term success & beauty.


I decided to use UNILOCK's Siena Stone Coping Step Units for this particular application.  They are large massive units that when properly installed, should not fail. They have preset 7.5" rises, 4ft wide, and are 20" deep for a comfortable & safe tread.  These particular units weigh over 300lbs and require equipment placement or brute strength to set in place.  We used the latter with some aid from a tree ball cart.

We needed to strategize the placement of these concrete stone steps by evaluating the total height and slope.  Each set of these paver steps would require small brick paver pads in between to transition to each set of steps.  Because the grade in this area was inconsistent, we had a 2-5-2 placement of stone steps. An experience brick paver contractor can foresee or adjust to challenges when if comes to installing landscape steps.

The biggest challenge for designing & installing paver steps is to create a structure that can deter erosion.  Because of the natural slope of grades, water will travel faster and therefore challenge the ground or landscape.  I use two different application approaches when designing & installing paver steps.

Beating the Grade

The first is called "beating the grade" which I have coined over the years for installing the steps and/or paver pads above the grade. Thus, "beating" the grade so water flow does not go over the brick paver step installation but around.  This method is better suited for grades that are gradual and not steep. This is the method we used in today's job post.

Inset Steps

When the grade is steep, the second method  called "encasing or insetting" is the better approach. This "encasing or insetting" method is installing your paver steps "into" the grade and creating sidewalls to prevent erosion onto the paver steps or paver pads. This method is more expensive due to more product needed and added labor but the aesthetic value and appearance is unmatched.



Which ever method is used for installing brick steps down a grade, proper landscaping around the borders and edges is crucial.  Grass, wood mulch, or stone mulch is needed to protect any areas where water may erode.  If you experience any signs of erosion around or on top of your newly installed paver steps, make sure you address the area immediately to avoid unnecessary and costly future paver repair.

In terms of paver maintenance for steps, keep paver joint sand swept into the brick paver pads in between. The step stones or step blocks & caps do not need sand swept inside them but make sure the caps are secure and blocks do not gap. Keep one thing in mind, if a lower paver step begins to excessively settle or move, upper paver steps will soon follow so do not wait to address this need for repair.