Sealing Brick Pavers enhances colors and protects from weathering
I have been educating my clients for almost 30 years that sealing of brick pavers is for enhancing the color of their paving stones or modular retaining wall blocks and caps. Aesthetics is the key reason for deciding to seal your pavers. While giving your brick paver patio, walkway, driveway, porch, etc.. the "wet", gloss, or matte look, slowing down the effects of weathering is another valuable benefit of sealing.
Many inexperienced and misleading landscape contractors have convinced customers that sealing their brick paver patios will also permanently harden the sand in the paver joints, eliminating the growth of weeds or the need to sweep joints in the future. This can not be further from the truth!
Over time brick paver sealants or joint stabilizers, whether applied as a liquid or swept in as a solid, will break down in the paver joints due to winter frost, erosion, or ground movements. Paver joints absorb the movement of the interlocking pavement system and that is one of the keys to its success and performance.
Sealed paver joints are no exception. They will loosen over time and require refilling of paver joint sand. Time is a variable due to weather, erosion, climate, and frost conditions. It is not necessary to reseal the paver joints when re-sweeping. Keep up will refilling your paver joints with the proper joint sand and reseal your paver patio, walkway, driveway, porch, etc.. when necessary for the paving stones which is usually every 2-3 years (or summers).
Sand sweeping of paver joints will be a continued routine maintenance of sealed brick paver installations. Do not have your pavers sealed because you are under the impression you will not have to have joint sand swept in periodically. If you keep your paver joints filled with clean joint sand, and not dirt & organic matter, you will greatly reduce any evidence of weeds.
