How to Keep My Concrete Pavers Looking Their BEST!

Concrete and brick pavers are very popular in Arizona. They create a beautiful and distinct look for backyards and front yards. Brick pavers come in many different styles and colors, allowing for many different styles to be accomplished. Concrete pavers create a sleek modern look in yards creating a clean and sophisticated feel. Even though these pavers' styles provide many unique looks and feelings, they require care and maintenance.

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Both brick and concrete pavers are very porous, absorb quickly, and can easily stain and discolor! With all of that said, you can help prevent or slow down the process of staining and discoloring.

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Discoloring and staining typically occur because organic growth comes from beneath the pavers. For moisture to evaporate, it has to move up through the pavers, and this action causes efflorescence or the white staining. Now, this is not preventable, but it can be slowed down. Let me tell you how.

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When caring for concrete and brick pavers, we strongly suggest cleaning them regularly and sealing them properly.

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Cleaning these styles of pavers doesn't mean hosing them down. You would want to get them professionally cleaned by a company that uses the proper cleaners and sealers. When you select AriStone Cleaning and Restoration, we use the best cleaning system on the market.

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For cleaning, we use cleaners made specifically for concrete and brick pavers. We do have multiple ones depending on each situation's needs. We have cleaners that help with rust, oil, efflorescence and many other types of staining. First, we would saturate the pavers with a pressure washer, apply the cleaner we would be using and let it dwell for a few minutes to break up what needs to be broken up. Then we will use one of our two truck-mounted cleaning machines to scrub and deep clean your pavers. Once everything has been scrubbed clean, we will pressure wash again to ensure all chemical is diluted and rinsed from your pavers. This process will remove as much of the staining and discoloration as possible. Unfortunately, we can never guarantee everything will come out because we can not assume nor guess how deep into the paver the staining is.

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Once we have thoroughly cleaned the concrete or brick pavers, we strongly recommend sealing them to help slow the organic growth and staining process. Now, remember nothing will completely stop organic growth because of how moisture evaporates, but the sealers will slow the process of seeing the discoloration after cleaning. The types of sealers we use for concrete and brick pavers are penetrating sealers, and they will absorb into the paver and clog the pores from within. They do not sit on the top. One huge benefit of penetrating sealers versus topical sealers is that they do not peel or flake. Topical sealers, over time, start to disintegrate and either flake or peel off. We offer two looks with our natural and wet-look sealers. For both types of looks, we have water-based and hybrid solvent based. For the wet-look, we also carry a solvent-based sealer.

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When it comes to the question, how often do I need to do this stuff? I can answer that for you. We recommend cleanings at least once a year, specifically right before monsoon season is about to start. We have many customers who clean more regularly depending on their style of pavers and how much sunlight they get. Our recommendation for sealing varies because the manufacturers say their sealers will last 2-3 years, and we have seen the sealers we use last longer than that but also less than that. We like to make all our customers aware of this. It all depends on the weather and heat we get. Overall, we recommend cleaning every year and sealing at least every two years to ensure the best overall protection.

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Now you may be wondering if I have to seal every couple of years, does that mean the sealer needs to be stripped off to reapply? The answer is NO, yay! With penetrating sealers, you do not need to strip them off when reapplied, and they will bind to any sealer still left over, adding extra protection. Again, this is a massive benefit to sealing with penetrating sealers.

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As you can see, concrete and brick pavers do need some extra maintenance and care but in the long run, it is all worth it to keep the initial beautiful look you were expecting for your outdoor spaces. For more information, check our website at www.travertinecleaningaz.com and click on the paver and concrete pages. Or, if you would like to send us photos or chat with one of us about how we can help you call or text us any time at 480-352-2987. We look forward to working with you and your outdoor spaces.