Brick or stone pavers are a beautiful and durable solution for your yard. Walkways, patios, borders between landscaping elements: pavers are always a great way to fulfill your landscaping needs.
Installing pavers into your garden means building a lasting yard that will be enjoyed for generations to come.
But how do you maintain your paver patio? How do you take care of it so it reaches its full potential? How should you take care of the stones, and how should you clean the joints between them? What is paver sealant, and is it really worth it? What if surrounding vegetation starts staking its claim on your patio?
This article will explain how to keep your paver installation looking great.
It all starts with a professional install job
If you don't get a proper installation from the get go, your paver patio will need constant care and attention and will never look as good as it could.
Improper install jobs cause slabs to come loose, the bindings between tiles to deteriorate faster, and contribute to an overall bad look of your yard. No amount of upkeep will be able to salvage an improperly paved patio. You might as well tear it up and do the job again, professionally.
Of course, an integral part of getting the most out of your paver patio is using high quality materials. Weak and brittle stones and bad binding elements will make you regret your stinginess a few seasons in.
So, in order to reap the benefits of your paver patio landscaping, make sure you hire a trustworthy professional and get the most important part of the process done correctly - the preparation and the laying of the slabs.
Paver sealant is your best friend
If you dedicate some time and money once every two to three years and apply paver sealer to your patio, most of your troubles will be solved.
What is paver sealant? It’s a chemical wash that you coat your patio with. It has major benefits on the look and durability of your yard.
Sealer protects the original color of your paver patio, as well as prevents local discolorations. It also acts as protection to any future stainage.
The added protection will make your patio last longer, be easier to clean, and more difficult to muck up.
There are many products on the market. The best ones are acrylic based. If you’re already decided on investing in paver sealant, it doesn’t make much sense to get a cheap solution. We recommend talking to your landscaper about sealant and getting the brand they suggest.
Keep your paver patio clean
Since paver patios are laid out to the elements, you’re bound to get all sorts of debris in between the slabs. The fact that people step on it daily, usually with muddy or wet feet, doesn’t help either.
The first part of keeping it clean is selecting the proper location for your paver patio and cleaning it thoroughly before installing.
Then, it’s all up to regular upkeep and maintenance. Fortunately, you don’t need any special tools or equipment to deal with dirty paver patios. Just a water hose and a broom will do. And some elbow grease. With an hour and a half weekly, you’ll have a beautiful paver patio all year round that will be the envy of all your neighbors.
Don’t forget that the joints between slabs are probably the most important element to keep clean. If those get mucky and dirty, stones can easily shake loose and cause much more costly repair bills.
If you use a power hose, however, don’t use it on the joints. A power hose can be an incredibly quick and easy way to keep your paver stones clean, but it can wreak havoc on the joints. If you end up using a power hose to clean your paver patio, don’t start with maximum power straight away. Try experimenting and use the least amount of power you need to get good results.
For particularly difficult stains and discolorations, here’s a quick formula - five parts water, one part bleach, a strong bristle brush, and some elbow grease. Spread the mixture equally across your patio and brush until you see a white foam begin to form. Leave the bleach to do its work for about 15 minutes, then rinse off with clean water.
Any form of dirt, algae, or microvegetation will perish, and you will get a squeaky clean paver patio you can be proud of.
Just be careful around bleach. Don’t let it touch your skin, and make sure you wear protective gear. Don’t let it touch the vegetation around the patio because it will die. Lastly, some types of paver stones will fade in color when touched by bleach. Consult your landscaper whether the stones you end up installing will withstand the power of bleach.
Here’s an extra tip - the sooner you clear dirt and muck from your paver patio, the easier it will be. Just like with washing dishes - if you let it dry out and cake in, it’ll be much more challenging to clean.
Make your patio fit in with the surrounding landscape
Your brand new paver patio should not only be a functional element in your yard, but it should also add to its overall look and feel. Consult your landscaper about the lining options for your patio - maybe you want a brick wall or your patio to be surrounded by flowers.
If you do decide to surround your paver patio with vegetation, consult your landscape about root growth that might push slabs loose in the future.
There’s always the chance of surrounding grass and weeds encroaching on your beautiful patio. If you notice that starts to happen, here’s a simple tip. A spray bottle filled with white vinegar and a little bit of dishwashing liquid will keep the pesky weeds from staking a claim on your patio.
A little bit of planning in the installation process goes a long way in making your paver patio beautiful as well as durable.
Whatever you decide to do, make sure your paver patio is in line with the overall flow of your yard. Consider the outgoing and incoming traffic pathways your patio will handle and plan accordingly.
Conclusion
Paver patio maintenance is not rocket science. After all, that’s one of the premier choices for landscaping - stone is not that difficult to keep tidy. It’s stone after all.
Most of the battle is won in the installation process. A patio installed on a clean and flat surface that has been prepared and placed in the right spot, relative to vegetation and foot traffic, will require little to no effort to keep clean. We highly recommend hiring a professional landscaper to do the installation. A badly laid out paver patio is just money, time, and effort down the drain.
Keep the vegetation in check, use a power hose to give the stones back their original luster, and replace loose pavers as soon as you can. Use paver sealant for added protection. That way, your paver patio will stand for decades, and you will get a chance to see your great-grandkids play on it.
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