Clean And Seal Pavers To Extend Their Look And Life
If you are like most people, your home is the biggest investment of your life. You have committed yourself to caring for this piece of property for an extremely long time. Keeping the little things in check ensures that you never have to worry about the big things.
Your pavers, believe it or not, connect many of the pivotal functions in your home. Whether you have natural stone, artificial stone, travertine, brick or pure asphalt, you should consider their upkeep and maintenance. Keeping up with this relatively inexpensive thing can save you a great deal of time, money and worry down the road.
Why are pavers so important?
Your pavers are likely helping to hold together your patio, driveway, walking path, and if applicable, your pool deck. If you do not keep them clean and sealed, you risk damage to the entire structure. Sealing your pavers is like a wax job for your home. You look good in the moment, but you also protect your home from the sun and other weather elements. You also “seal” in the durability of the structure. You extend the life of your patios and decks for years if you keep up your pavers.
If your pavers are in high traffic areas of your home, then you owe it to yourself and to your guests to keep them sealed. If your pavers look dirty, then they are probably in need of maintenance as well. Look for stains that come from drinks, food, dirt, cooking grease or suntan oil. Once they begin to become an eyesore (or possibly before), you should consider sealing your pavers again.
Most importantly, some deterioration that occurs on unsealed pavers cannot be fixed. Oil, food, animal droppings or dirt can permanently stain your pavers. Mildew may become a factor over time, introducing additional health risks. Not only does it look and smell repulsive, but it is impossible to remove once it has found a home there. Also, damage to your core materials, even the tough stuff like bricks and asphalt, cannot be fixed once it has gone beyond a certain extent.
What does sealing my pavers mean for my home?
When your pavers are recently sealed and well kept, they resist oil, dirt and other stains instead of retaining them. You gain more than a good look when you keep these things off of your pavers. You gain a longer life for the structure that your paving surrounds. The chemicals in oil, dirt and grime tend to break down your walking paths and patios. This is where you start to see cracks and splits that become very difficult to look at, more difficult to walk on, and even more difficult to fix.
Sealing your pavers keeps you from having to deal with the weeds that show up between the crevices of your home pathways. Limit your exposure to this annoying pest by sealing your pavers on a consistent basis. Otherwise, you risk a bad looking pavement as well as plants literally uprooting your structure. If you see weeds in the crevices of your pavement, you can be sure that there are dozens or hundreds more pushing up under the structure. One plant may not cause expensive and ugly breakage, but many plants will.
Most importantly, you help to retain the structure of your paving. Insects and weather join plants in trying to return your beautiful home back into the nature that it came from. Their efforts are consistent. Plants never stop growing, insects never stop moving, and dirt never stops grinding. Your efforts need to be just as consistent if you want to retain the value and the look of your home.
How do I go about sealing my pavers?
There are DIY videos on the subject of sealing your pavers. However, this is usually not a job for the layman. Why do you need a professional to seal your pavers? One reason – mistakes are incredibly hard, if not impossible, to reverse. If you seal your pavers unevenly, then you are stuck with that look for years. You also lose the benefits mentioned above, because you probably have not sealed the pavers properly to be able to resist the elements.
If you’ve recently had pavers installed on your property, you should wait for at least one month for all of the initial moisture to leave the structure. Paving under these conditions will not give you the results that you are looking for. After this initial period, you should reseal your pavers at least once every three years. Your paving professional may suggest a more frequent update period if you live in an area with highly inclement weather or insect infestations.
Contact us if you need pavers sealing services in Fort Myers or Cape Coral. Not only will you be happier every time you pull into your driveway, but you will also retain the value in your home. Whether you are looking to stay in place for years to come or sell in two months, you will have many more positive options with this relatively small concern taken into serious consideration.