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Three days on one walkway in Nashotah — one to clean the pavers and empty the joints, one to sand and compact, one to seal. The joint work is the part that decides how long the rest of it lasts.
The brick itself was fine. Smooth-faced baked clay, sound, nothing that needed replacing. Everything between the brick was the problem. The joints were down to old, spent sand, and where the sand had gone, weeds had taken over — on the worst stretch of the walkway there was growth in every single joint. Joint sand is what holds a paver walkway together. A joint full of roots is not holding anything.
Day one started on the clay faces, before anything went near the joints.
Also day one: the old sand and the weeds came out of the joints. This is the step that gets skipped, and it is the one the rest of the job sits on. New sand needs an empty joint to pack into.
Day two. Polymeric sand into the open joints, then a plate compactor over the whole walkway to pack the sand down into the joint rather than leaving it to settle on its own.
Day three. A water-based penetrating sealer across the walkway. It soaks into the clay instead of drying as a film on top of it, which is the whole point on a surface this smooth.
Algae on the surface of the brick and weeds through the joints.
After the wash, with the weeds and the old sand out of the joints.
New polymeric sand packed into the joints and sealer on the brick.
Very diligent, attention to detail, responsive, does excellent work and a stand up business! Would highly recommend.
Aimee Boesen
It comes down to what the paver is. These were smooth baked clay brick. A solvent-based sealer is film-forming — it dries as a layer on top of the surface, and on clay that smooth that layer can make the walkway slippery. A water-based penetrating sealer soaks in instead, so the brick keeps the texture it had.
Because new sand needs an empty joint to pack into. Polymeric sand laid on top of old, spent fill and roots is not bedded down on anything. Clearing the joints out first is the slow part of the job and it is the part that decides whether the rest of it holds.
We test it. Once it has cured we put water on the surface and watch what it does — if it beads up and rolls off, the sealer is in the clay and doing its job. Cure time is not a fixed number; it moves with the weather that week, so we check rather than assume.
Send this over and Brad will get back to you, usually within a few hours. Every job is looked at in person before a price is given — no phone quotes.
Monday–Friday 8:00–5:00Saturday 9:00–4:00 · Closed Sunday and holidays
