Brick Pavers Maintenance Tips to do this Fall

Simple Paver Maintenance tasks will insure long term performance

 Fall has arrived and as you begin to do your lawn & landscape pre-winter maintenance tasks, do not forget about your brick paver patio, walkway, porch, steps, driveway, etc.. .  There are some simple paver maintenance tasks that need to be performed in the Midwest before Winter.  If your prior brick paver contractor or landscaper did not properly educate you on these needs, I am here to help you.

 Here is an earlier article I posted regarding Winter Maintenance for Brick Pavers that will help insure endless years of beauty & function of your paver patios, walkways, and driveways.  After 29 years of experience, analysis, & visual feedback, I have spent more time educating my clients on paver maintenance requirements that in turn leads to the reduced need for added future paver repair services. 



I would like to expand on a couple of my paver maintenance tips from the earlier post so we can keep up with the ever evolving feedback I witness and receive back from clients.

The first piece of advice is to remove ALL items from your paver patio, walkway, etc.. that will stay stationary over the Winter.  This includes your patio table.  Each Spring I witness patios with 4 sunken pavers where each leg of the table meets the paving stones.  Just place your patio table in your landscape beds or lawn for the Winter. Do Not forget to remove the umbrella base too!  I am often asked about the grill since most people still use there's during the Winter months.  Just try to relocate (roll) slightly a few times during the winter so the legs & wheels do not stay on the same paving stones all Winter.

Second, touch up sweep any brick paver joints that lack joint sand going into the Winter.  We want to make sure that water during any rains or melt-off this Winter will flow over and off the pavers, not down into the joints.   If you have a raised paver patio with a modular wall block & cap on the outside perimeter, pay special attention to the joint between the outside brick paver and the block cap. This is the same for pavers inside block caps of paver steps and porches.

I am very passionate about the brick paver industry and I never install, repair, or restore a brick paver project with the intent to have to come back and repair.  My goal is to functionally create or bring back to life a paver patio, walkway, driveway, etc.. , educate the customer on maintenance needs they can easily perform themselves, and then be there when the customer needs our brick paver services.

Yearly reminder to Winterize your Brick Pavers

Paver Patios, Walks, Porches, & Driveways need protection

Simple and easy paver maintenance can help you avoid long-term repair or restoration costs if you just follow this manageable winterizing tips for your brick pavers. Any steps taken to avoid erosion from snow, ice, and rains will greatly improve the performance & appearance of your brick paver patios, walkways, driveways, and porches.
 
Letting interlocking pavers and modular retaining wall blocks & caps move freely with winter frost in states like Michigan will allow paving stones to properly flex and reset.  Most homeowners neglect these simple brick pavers maintenance tips and respond by saying, " I will just wait until Spring".  The most stress on any pavement or structure in Michigan and other frost states is the effects of winter freeze thaw cycles.

Here is the link to Winterizing Brick Pavers that I repost each year to remind homeowners of the need to perform these much needed steps to protect their investment.  Any qualified brick paver contractor will offer these winterizing services if you do not have the time or resolve to perform them yourself.

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.

Paver Tip: Sweep in Joint Sand to Winterize Your Pavers

Necessary paver maintenance for Winter

If your pavers patio, walkway, driveway, porch, etc.. is in need of paver joint sand this Fall, this is an important time to perform this brick paver maintenance service.  One of the most important steps in winterizing your pavers is making sure the paver joints are filled with joint sand.

Winter snow, ice, and melt off will run into paver joints that are not filled with joint sand and may create preventable settling, erosion, or heaving.  I gave some suggestions for preparing your pavers for Winter in an earlier post about winterizing brick pavers. A quick review will  help you insure long-term performance of your paving stones patio, walkway, or driveway.



Paver joint sand creates friction between paving stones causing vertical and rotating interlock to occur.  Paver joints play a cushioning role in preventing damage between paver to paver contact.  Angular or course joint sand will prevent sand movement and help sand retention in the paver joints, thus avoiding long term erosion or settling of your patio paving stones.

It is so simple to just sweep in paver joint sand. In the Fall, you can just concentrate on sweeping paver joint sand in the areas that are in need of joint sand.  Touch-up sweepings throughout the year will save you unnecessary paver repairs over the years. Neglect of this simple brick paver maintenance requirement will result in costly paver repairs.  So during this Halloween season, grab a broom from a witch and sprinkle in some paver joint sand from Lowe's and start brewing.

Winterizing your Brick Pavers

I am asked alot about the need for "winterizing" brick paver patios, walks, or driveways. The great news is that interlocking brick pavers are designed and installed to withstand the ill effects of winter climate & frost cycles and do not necessarily require any winter prep.

I do have some suggestions that will help in the long-term success and aesthetics of your brick paver installation.

• Remove any heavy items or vehicles that you plan on leaving on your brick pavers throughout the winter months. The reason is that the area under a heavy item or tires will not flex to the freeze thaw cycle, thus possibly causing sunken areas as the base below shifts. Over the years I have noticed, especially on brick paver patios,where homeowners leave there patio table base (filled with sand or water), leaves a slight indention in this brick paver area. Also, on driveways where homeowners leave boat trailers, campers, motor homes, etc.. the spots where the tires sat through the winter freeze thaw cycles are sunken.

• Sweep some joint sand in all the joints if needed. I always instruct my clients that brick paver joints will require a resweep of joint sand each Spring after the winter frost effects. But if the sand is low in your brick paver joints heading into the Winter, it would be a good idea to do a quick sweep. Brick Paver joints that are filled will allow for proper drainage of late season rains and also properly hold pavers in place. Really you should always keep your brick pavers filled with joint sand all year round for optimum success.

• Redirect any direct water or ice sources from draining on your brick pavers. If there are any gutter spouts that drain onto your brick pavers, it would be a good idea if possible to connect a solid corrugated pipe to the end of the gutter spout and run into the grass or plant bed. The constant freezing and thawing of snow and ice that runs down the gutter onto a brick paver patio, walk, or driveway will create a tremendous stress on your pavers in this area. Hopefully you addressed water drainage during the original brick paver installation but it will be important to reduce any thaw drainage & refreezing.

These are just a few things you can do to add to the long-term success and aesthetics of your brick paver installation. There is no need to cover your pavers or shovel off your paver patio. Just let the functional beauty and benefits of interlocking brick pavers do there job and enjoy!