Maintenance Schedule
The Arizona paver maintenance schedule — keep them looking new for 30 years.
Pavers are the lowest-maintenance hardscape you can install — but they aren't zero-maintenance. Here's the honest schedule for cleaning, polymeric joint sand refreshes, and sealing, plus exactly what you can DIY and when to call us.
The honest version: Polymeric sand is not 'one and done.' It wears down in 5–8 years on patios and 3–5 on driveways. Sealing is every 3–5 years. Skip either one and pavers still last decades — they just look tired and stain easier. Follow this schedule and your install looks new at year 20.
01
Weekly (5 minutes)
- Sweep or blow off leaves, palm debris, and dust before it stains or holds moisture.
- Pick up any pet waste, fertilizer spills, or grill drips immediately.
- Pull weeds while they're small — established weeds with deep roots pull joint sand out with them.
02
Monthly
- Rinse the patio or driveway with a garden hose. More often near pools, irrigation overspray, or under trees.
- Spot-treat oil, grease, food, wine, rust, and pet stains. Fresh stains lift; old stains soak in.
- After dust storms or monsoons: rinse and check for joint sand washout in low spots.
03
Annually
- Move planters, pots, BBQs, and furniture; clean underneath to prevent permanent shadow staining.
- Walk the perimeter — look for sinking, rocking, or shifting pavers. Single-paver resets are quick if caught early.
- Inspect edge restraints (the plastic or concrete band holding pavers in place at the perimeter). Failed edge restraint = pavers spread out over time.
- Check that drainage still flows away from the house. Settled areas pool water and accelerate joint sand washout.
04
Every 3–5 years — Seal
The most under-appreciated maintenance step. Sealing protects color, blocks stains, and reduces efflorescence.
- Pool decks, driveways, full-sun patios: every 3 years.
- Covered or shaded patios: every 5 years.
- Always clean thoroughly and let pavers fully dry before sealing — sealing in dirt or moisture is permanent.
- Choose penetrating sealer (no color change) or film-forming sealer (enriches color, slight sheen).
- AE uses Belgard- and SRW-matched sealers paired to your paver and finish.
05
Every 5–8 years (3–5 on driveways) — Refresh polymeric joint sand
This is the most-missed step in Arizona paver maintenance. Sand wears down — and once it's gone, pavers shift, weeds appear, and ants colonize.
- Signs it's time: gaps between pavers, sand sitting 1/8" below the chamfer, recurring weeds, ant nests.
- DIY-able with bagged polymeric sand and a careful watering process — but timing matters.
- We recommend pairing the sand refresh with a clean + seal visit. One trip, three jobs, one bill.
- Driveways and pool decks need refreshes sooner because of vehicle traffic, splash-out, and equipment wash-down.
06
Every 10–15 years — Inspect base and edge restraints
- Even perfect installs settle slightly over a decade. A spot-check from a paver pro catches small issues before they become repairs.
- Replace any failed edge restraint — it's the cheapest paver repair there is.
- Reset any pavers that have shifted more than 1/4".
07
DIY vs. call AE — honest split
- DIY: weekly sweeping, monthly rinse, spot stain removal, small-area sand top-ups in good-condition joints.
- Borderline: full-patio cleaning (rentable pressure washer with the right tip and pressure), small sealing projects on shaded patios.
- Call AE: full clean + sand refresh + seal as a package, any sinking/rocking pavers, recurring efflorescence, driveways and pool decks, anything over 400–500 sq ft.
- We're happy to walk you through DIY on the phone if your install is small and in good shape — we'd rather earn your trust than upsell you on a service you don't need.
08
What to avoid
- Pressure washing above ~1,500 PSI or with a zero-degree tip — blasts joint sand out.
- Acidic cleaners (muriatic acid) on concrete pavers — they etch the surface.
- Wire brushes and metal scrapers — scratch the cement skin off the paver.
- Sealing over visible stains, efflorescence, or moisture — you lock them in permanently.
- Regular masonry sand in the joints — it washes out and doesn't bind. Always use polymeric.
- Driving heavy equipment, trailers, or dumpsters across patio-spec pavers.
FAQ
Common questions.
Plan on a top-up every 5–8 years in residential patios, and every 3–5 years on driveways and pool decks. Polymeric sand is not 'install it once and forget it' — water, leaf blowers, foot traffic, and UV slowly wear it down. Keeping joints full is the single biggest factor in how long pavers last.
Four tells: (1) sand sits more than 1/8 inch below the paver chamfer, (2) you see visible gaps between pavers, (3) weeds keep coming back in the same joints, or (4) ants nest between stones. Any one of those means it's time.
Every 3–5 years. Pool decks, driveways, and full-sun patios lean toward 3. Shaded or covered patios stretch closer to 5. If pavers look 'thirsty,' fade quickly after rain, or stain more easily than they used to, it's time.
Yes — for small patios in good shape. You'll need: a blower or stiff broom, garden hose, bag of polymeric sand matched to your joint width, and a careful watering process (activate too dry and it doesn't bond; too wet and it stains the surface permanently). For driveways, pool decks, or any install over ~400 sq ft, hiring it out usually pays for itself in time and avoided mistakes.
Pressure washing at full power without thinking about the joints. A zero-degree tip at 3,000 PSI blasts polymeric sand out in 30 seconds — and then weeds, ants, and movement follow. Use a fan tip, stay under 1,500 PSI, hold the wand 12+ inches off the surface, and angle away from the joints.
Pavers still last decades — sealing isn't structural. But unsealed pavers fade faster, stain more easily, and show efflorescence longer. Most of the 'tired old patio' look in 10–15-year-old installs is just unsealed pavers. A clean + reseal makes them look new again for $1.50–$3.00 per square foot.
No. Regular sand washes out in the first big rain, and it doesn't bind — so the pavers shift, ants colonize, and weeds take over within a season. Polymeric sand activates with water to form a flexible bond that locks pavers in place. Always match the polymeric sand product to your joint width (narrow vs. wide-joint formulas).
Call us if: a paver is sinking or rocking (it's almost always a base issue, not a paver defect), efflorescence keeps returning after cleaning, you've had a pressure-washing accident that stripped sand from large areas, or the install is over 400–500 sq ft and you'd rather not spend a weekend on it. We do one-visit clean + sand refresh + seal as a package.
AE warranties our installation workmanship for 2 years (settlement, joint failure caused by base issues, etc.). Belgard and SRW carry transferable lifetime warranties on the paver itself. Routine maintenance — cleaning, sealing, sand refresh — is on the homeowner, but following this schedule is exactly what keeps both warranties valid.
Want AE to handle the clean + sand + seal in one visit?
Deep clean, polymeric sand refresh, manufacturer-matched sealer, and a full hardscape inspection. The simplest way to keep pavers looking new for decades. We'll also tell you honestly if you could DIY it instead.
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