Restoration of Brick Pavers Walkway installed 10 years ago

Simple paver maintenance will help avoid repairs and major restoration

This brick pavers walkway in Ann Arbor was recently restored by our company. The condition of this paver walk is a common occurrence that I estimate restoration for on a daily basis.  It was a reminder to me that neglect of simple routine paver maintenance will turn into a major restoration cost in the future.

This pavers walkway had never received any additional sweeping of joint sand since it was installed 10 years ago!  Who is to fault?  Neglect by the homeowner? or the lack of educating the homeowner by the installing contractor?  Either way, the homeowner is now responsible for the cost to restore this pavers walk.

The 2 contributing factors to the deterioration of this pavers walkway was the lack of paver joint sand in the paver joints and the exposure of the cement bead edge restraint.  If these simple maintenance requirements had been addressed, the homeowner would not have the cost of complete re-installation of this paver walkway.

The lack of keeping joint sand in the paver joints allows for water to take the least path of resistance.  Water will rush down the joints instead of running over the paver surface.  The result is the base below slowly erodes over time and allows the paving stones to sink, tilt, or loosen.  Joint sand also is the key factor in keeping the pavers "locked-up" and tight.  Lack of paver joint sand will allow the paving stones to loosen, gap, tilt, and shift.

The lack of the cement bead edge restraint being covered by proper landscaping (i.e. soils, grass, or mulch) allows the edge restraint to erode, crack, and break loose.  In turn, the outside row of pavers begin to "creep" out.  The result is the inner paving stones begin to excessively gap, loosen, and tilt.  I was amazed after 10 years that the cement bead edge restraint was totally exposed.  All the homeowner had to do was allow the grass to grow over the cement bead on the lawn side with a few bags of topsoil & seed and cover with mulch on the inside landscape bed.

We completely lifted up this pavers walkway, re-compacted the existing base, added new base material as needed to re-level, re-installed the pavers in like shape & design, cleaned the pavers, and swept in new pavers joint sand.  The homeowner also elected to have the paver walk sealed to enhance the color and give it the "wet look" appearance. The final result was another successful house call by the Doctor and staff!