Brick Paver Spring Maintenance in Ann Arbor

Time to perform spring maintenance on your brick paver patio, walks, & driveway!

Spring has sprung in Michigan and the threat of any further freeze thaw cycles is done.  This means it is time to strategize on the maintenance objectives of your brick pavers.  Assessing the needs and care that are to be taken to ensure long-term performance is upon you.

 

Take the time to inspect your brick paver walks, patio, and driveway for sunken or lifted pavers.  If sunken, it will take some effort to lift out, add some base, and reinstall.  If raised, it may only take tamping down with a hand tamper or power plate compactor.   Make sure you do not mistake sunken or raised pavers areas because the other is true.  For example, slightly sunken paver areas may look like the surrounding area is raised.  Evaluate which circumstance is true and execute the correct action.

 

The brick pavers in Spring may seem a little loose due to the thawed base under the pavers.  Also, the lack of paver joint sand in the joints will let pavers rock back and forth slightly.  This signals the most important step in maintaining your brick pavers…. Spring sand sweeping!  It is important to keep your paver joints filled with joint sand.  On a dry day, drop a bag or more of paver joint sand and spread over all your brick pavers.  Sweep generously over all the pavers and paver joints to insure filling any empty joints.   Blow off all your pavers with a light passing of a blower, insuring you don’t blow the sand out of the joints.  Any excess sand on top of the pavers will wash off with Spring rains but don’t leave any piles of sand on your pavers.

 

This is the most basic and beneficial service for your brick pavers.  This needs to be performed every Spring, preferably in mid to late April.  For the purpose of this article, I have not talked about cleaning & sealing of your brick pavers.  These are premium services that I discuss in detail in many other past articles.  Basically, if you feel your brick pavers need cleaning before adding new joint sand, just power wash the pavers & paver joints, let dry completely, and then sweep joint sand.  When it comes to sealing your brick pavers, I recommend it every 2-3 years, and you should perform the steps of cleaning and sweeping of joint sand prior to any sealing.

 

I want to further note that your Spring touch up of paver joint sand is “regular” paver joint sand, NOT polymeric sand (hardening sand).  Polymeric sand is another premium service which requires cleaning of all paver joints prior to sweeping in.  When working with polymeric sand, great care needs to be taken to make sure you avoid a disastrous result.  

 

Brick pavers will perform excellent if you just perform this basic paver maintenance each Spring.  Paver joint sand is the blood line of all brick paver installations.  Spring brick paver maintenance can easily be performed by you the homeowner, or performed by an experience brick paver contractor at a reasonable cost. Contact us at brickdoctorbill@gmail.com if you want a qualified brick paver contractor to perform this service for you.