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.
