Welcome to Episode #1 of the Adventures in Paver Sealing Podcast. Paver Protectors owner, Jeff Evers, gives listeners tips on treating:
...to keep brick pavers looking attractive on your driveway, walkway, or pool deck. While these tips are helpful for most climates, they're especially helpful for homeowners who live in tropical climates with high humidity.
Welcome to the adventures in paver sealing podcast, with your host, Jeff Evers of paver protectors.
Thank you for tuning in to the adventures of paver sealing podcast. I'm your host, Jeff Evers. And today I wanted to discuss a little bit of who I am, what I do, and why I do this podcast.
As you probably realized by tuning in, uh, I own a company called Paver Protectors and what we do is we clean and seal brick pavers in beautiful Southwest Florida. I started this business years ago because I saw there was a need that pavers needed protection. They needed protection from the environment, as well as intrusions, like weeds and mold and that sort of thing.
And so I started this business and we've been doing this for...going on nine years now. I've had a very good track record and I wanted to do this podcast to actually help not only my customers, but people looking to maybe do this themselves or what people can do to help maintain their pavers. At Paver Protectors we help with everyday problems associated with having brick pavers and these are problems that our clients typically have.
Most people have problems with mold growth and weeds, sand wash out, the color of the bricks fading from the sun, stains from automobiles or spilling drinks on your lanai, pool deck area. Some people have settling issues with their pavers, whether it be root intrusion or settling around the pool deck area. And we have a VIP maintenance program that is designed to help with these issues. But most importantly, I want to help you figure out how you can maintain this yourself and the pros and cons of different ways to do these things.
The number one reason for this podcast is to help through education and answering questions that our clients have and offer solutions. So what I'd like to discuss just briefly is I'll hit on a few subjects and if this can help you out, that is great. That's what we're here for. And you can always call me if you have questions. I'm very proactive in helping my clients and other people with their pavers, whether you use us or not, they need to be maintained. And so we're here to help you with that.
One of the main things that we get asked about is mold growth. All pavers are gonna get mold in Southwest Florida or Florida in general. High humidity content, high water tables, we're always moist and damp around here. So mold is gonna grow. Now sealing does help with that. But most importantly, what can you do to help with mold and treat it once it occurs?
So, number one thing I recommend doing is, is spritz your pool deck, or your driveway area with a 50/50 mixture of pool chlorine in water. You don't need to go real strong with the mixture as far as the chlorine goes. Cause what this is going to do is kill those mold spores and it's going to react. And that way you can rinse it off quite easily, especially if your pavers have been sealed.
If they've not been sealed, it will take a little more elbow grease, such as a deck brush and then rinsing with a garden hose. Or you may need to go to home Depot, rent a pressure washer. You don't need a lot of pressure, but you may need a little more than a garden hose depending on how long that has been untreated.
Another common product that a lot of people use is Wet and Forget. You can buy this at Home Depot, Costco, those types of stores. This product is meant to be applied periodically and it works over time. So with chlorine, you may get it all cleaned up in one day and it'll be gone and look beautiful. With wet and forget, it's kind of what it says. You wet it with the product and forget about it. You'll still see the mold over time. But every time this product gets wet, it's supposed to reactivate and start to work on the mold. It's not as effective as chlorine. It's not an immediate result, but for an ongoing maintenance thing, we do have a lot of customers that use it and say good things about it.
And the thing you have to realize too, is when you're rinsing your pavers, low pressure. You do not need high pressure. You don't want to damage the brick. You don't want to blow all the sand out of the joints. Low pressure is all you need. And every house is different.
People ask me all the time, how often should I do this? It all depends on your house. My house, I do it every other month. Some people may need to do it every other week. Some people may be quarterly...depends on how much mold growth you get and whether you pavers have been sealed or not.
The next common problem that I wanted to discuss is weeds. Weeds pop up in between the joints of the pavers. There's a lot of people that have issues on weeds on their driveways. And a lot of people have weeds on their pool decks or both. It all depends. There's a lot of factors that depend on why you get a lot of weeds. Whether you have a lot of live plants on your pool deck, whether you have a screen cage that helps keep the seeds out when the landscapers cut the grass and so on.
So what you want to do is kind of not eliminate live plants, but kind of be cognizant of how many live plants you have because they all drop seeds and the seeds from when they cut the grass can get in the joints as well. You want to pull out the weeds as they appear. You can treat it with Roundup or Ortho. I've been told salt and vinegar works. I haven't personally tried that myself. But you want to try these products. Obviously you hear the stories about Roundup causing cancer. So just be conscientious about that.
That's why we have a maintenance program for our customers so that they don't have to worry about it. And we come out every eight months and treat these things. But it's an ongoing process. Sealing may help a little bit with weeds, but the thing is the weeds grow from in the joints, whether it be up underneath the pavers or seeds fall into the cracks. So it depends on how long their roots...I should say... it depends on how strong the roots are. If they grow from underneath, they're going to be quite strong. If they're harder to pull out, if they grow from the surface, it's almost like Moss. It just comes right out when you pull it with your hands. So ongoing maintenance is definitely required when it comes to weeds.
And then you also have stains, staining issues. The number one thing to do with stains is I recommend Dawn dish soap and some hot water. Maybe a scrub brush. That's going to help with the majority of the stains. You can also get degreasers at the box stores, Home Depot, Lowe's, those sort of stores.
But when it comes to degreasers, you don't want to use something high in citric acid. If they're citrus based, if they smell really good, they're probably citrus based, especially if your pavers have been sealed. Now, the citrus based sealers, while it won't take the sealer off, it can dull the finish and you don't want that. You want something that's going to be consistent and not affect the sealant that you have down. Some Dawn dish soap and a mild degreaser will usually work just fine.
I'd like to close this by just saying, if you have any questions about any of these issues or you need help, please don't hesitate to call us. You can reach me. My name's Jeff. You can reach us at Paver Protectors and our number is 239-288-0705. We're always here to help. You could also find some very good information on our website, which is paverprotectors.com. That concludes today's program. Thank you for tuning in.
Thank you for listening to the Adventures in Paver Sealing podcast. To learn more about Paver Protectors, please visit paverprotectors.com or call (239) 288-0705.