Brick Pavers Dirty Little Secret : Paver Joints

Paver Joints are the most important part of your Brick Pavers Installation

It amazes me every day when I am doing estimates on brick paver repair & restorations that homeowners had no idea they needed to keep paver joints filled with paver joint sand. More than the paving stones themselves, paver joints have the most important function of interlocking brick pavers.  Here are paver joints dirty little secrets.

Paver joints are the whole purpose for brick paver "lock-up".  Paver joints for interlocking paving stones allow for the bedding coarse to shoot up and lock the paving stones together during plate compaction.  As the plate compactor vibrates across several paving stones at once, the paving stones depress and force the bedding coarse sand or slag to "jet up" into the paver joints and lock up the paving stones laterally.


The next important step is to sweep in proper paver joint sand to completely fill the paver joints. Full paver joints will help prevent the paving stones from loosening, shifting, and unnecessarily settle from erosion.  What is so perplexing is that sweeping in paver joint sand is so easy and effortless and most homeowners will not perform this basic paver maintenance requirement. In Ann Arbor, sweeping is usually necessary each Spring as the Winter frost, snow & ice, and Spring rains wash away the top of the paver joints.  The upgraded use of Polymeric Sand will greatly reduce the amount of paver joint sweeping due to the strength of this bonding sand. Here are some paver repair projects that we used Polymeric Sand to help avoid future repairs.

Keeping paver joints filled with paver joint sand is important to help keep weed seeds from establishing .  If the joints are not filled with sand, this presents a perfect setting for weed seeds or dirt to settle in and promote growth.  Dirt, weeds, and grass inhibit the proper flow of water through the joints and does not allow for application of a paver sealant.


 Paver joints absorb the winter frost effects of heaving so the paving stones do not crack, grind, or chip. While protecting the structural integrity of interlocking pavers, paver joints will lose joint sand over time. Sweeping in new paver joint sand is a small price to pay for protecting the beauty, appearance, and performance of your brick paver patios,walkways,driveways, and more.

In frost states like Michigan, it is highly recommended not to fill the joints of high density concrete pavers with mortar.  I see many outdoor applications using mortared interlocking paving stones that will some day fail.  Mortared paver joints in a frost State does not stand up to the flexible heaving of base laid pavers. The other important factor is that high density concrete pavers are much stronger than mortar. As the paving stones expand slightly they will crack or break up the mortared joints. This will become and unsightly and costly future repair.

After years of neglect, paver patios without paver joint sand may require us to completely  re-sweep in new joint sand and re-compact the whole patio with a plate compactor. This will help re-lock the paving stones into the bedding coarse. We will then finish off the top of the paver joints with an approved joint sand.

Most homeowners believe that you must protect the paving stones with a sealer which is not true. Sealing brick pavers is an option and is mainly for aesthetic purposes.  The best way to protect your interlocking pavers is to keep the joints filled with paver joint sand. This is a simple and very cheap way to avoid costly and unnecessary paver repairs.

Last Reminder for Winterizing your Brick Pavers

Tips to avoid unnecessary Paver Repair from Winter damage

In Ann Arbor, the winter season will be in full force this coming month. I have listed some tips for winterizing your brick paver patio, walkway, driveway, paver porch, etc.. in some earlier posts about paver maintenance requirements for winter.

These simple winter paver maintenance tips will help insure the long term success of your interlocking brick pavers installation. Below are some reminders of additional brick pavers winterizing tips to keep your pavers patio, walkway, driveway, or paver porch in excellent condition through the effects of winter frost and freeze thaw cycles.

• Remove all heavy items from your pavers, such as, portable fire pits, table umbrella bases, flower pots, and wood piles. You can place these items in your landscape beds or lay on sheets of plywood.
• Deter water flow of any kind from your pavers by redirecting gutters with temporary pipes, cleaning out gutters from leaves to avoid water or ice overflow, and lay plywood down wear dripping onto pavers occurs ( from decks, overhangs, or steps). If possible, disconnect any pipes that run under brick pavers from the end of gutters and let water & ice flow into landscape bed for the winter.
• Do not permanently park boats, trailers, or cars throughout the winter on your paver driveway. If you have no choice, place 2ft X 2ft plywood sheets under each tire.
• Remove all leaves & debris from your pavers to reduce any staining. While removing this debris, it would be a good time to touch up on sweeping in any paver joint sand for your paver joints.
• Do not remove snow off your pavers patio or backyard walkway if you are not using during the winter months.  The compacted snow will insulate the paving stones and keep them frozen during the winter and reduce the effects of freeze thaw cycles. Obviously, you will need to keep your paver driveway and front paver walk and brick porch free of snow & ice.  Always use calcium chloride de-icing pellets instead of rock salt to reduce any damage to the paver surface or landscape plants.

Finally, do not let any visible brick paver repair, settling, or loose pavers go into the winter months without attention.  Many clients that I give bids to this time of year decide to wait until Spring. This is usually a big mistake since the areas of despair will usually get bigger and more costly to repair. These simple tips that you can do yourself will help you avoid preventable paver repairs in the future.