Welcome to the Adventures of Paver Sealing podcast. I'm your host, Jeff Evers. And we touched on weeds and mold in a previous podcast. And we got a lot of response from customers and potential customers calling us and asking questions and how we can help with weeds and mold.
So I kind of want to dedicate an entire podcast to weeds and mold. It's a common issue in our industry and anybody who owns pavers knows what I'm talking about. So I wanted to address this and maybe help with some suggestions. And I also want to talk about the pros and cons and things you need to know.
Okay so first of all, weeds. How do they grow? Well, you're going to have some weeds that grow from underneath the pavers and come through the cracks, the joints of the pavers, and you get some weeds that grow on top. These are little weeds where the little seed will drop in, and then the root structure is very small. If you were to pull it out with your fingers comes out very easily. There's not much to the root structure.
Whereas the weeds that grow from underneath, they typically have a stronger root structure and they're a little more difficult to get out. We see both of these on a daily basis, whether it be on a pool deck, walkway, or a driveway. The way the seeds get in there are typically live plants around your house, in your landscaping, on your pool deck, that sort of thing. And when the landscapers cut the grass, seeds blow everywhere and they get into those joints and that's, what's gonna make those weeds grow. Okay?
So we get asked all the time, people call and say, "I want to seal my pavers. The reason I want to seal is because I need to stop these weeds." And we let them know upfront and center that, just so you know, sealing will not stop weeds. And we explain why, and we explain how it can help. And that's what I want to explain here today.
So will it stop weeds completely? No. Does it help? It does somewhat. And the reason why it helps is because when we do our sealing process, we have a sealer that has joint sand stabilization. So what that means is if your joints are sanded, if you're seeing levels are adequate, or you have us re-sand your joints, once we seal, that sealer will harden that sand. Okay? So that makes it somewhat resistant to weeds.
But as we all know, weeds will still grow even through that. That's why we don't tell you that it'll stop weeds. And there are people that will tell you that just to get your work. And we just believe in being honest. We don't want you to hire us thinking that it's just going to stop your weed problem forever. Cause it will not.
But once we stabilize that sand, it's harder for those weeds to pop through. But again, they will over time. And the surface weeds that have the real short root structure from just the seeds dropping in, they can grow on top of that sand. So again, it's not going to eliminate that, but it'll definitely help.
A lot of people ask us about polymeric sand. Do we use it? What polymeric sand is...it's like mortar. So it is a sand that goes into the joints and once it gets wet and it sets, it more or less cements your bricks together. Not quite as hard as cement, but you get the idea. So that does a pretty good job with weeds. Although weeds still pop through that eventually. It does a better job than sand stabilization. But the reason why we don't use polymeric sand and most professionals don't, is because you've now cemented your bricks together.
So if you ever have to do a repair or swap out a brick, or if you have any issues, they're very difficult to get apart without cracking, chipping, damaging those bricks. And if your bricks are more than six months old, it's very difficult to match those bricks, exactly. So if you end up doing damage, you have to get brand new bricks and they're not going to match.
The idea of pavers in Florida is it's a floating surface. It floats on the surface so you can do repairs quite easily and lay them back down. We're on a bed of sand here in Florida, so pavers are more popular than cement. So why cement your pavers together? So that's why we don't use polymeric sand. There's other small issues that I won't go into here such as dust and that sort of thing, that it puts on the surface. But that's the main reason why we don't use that.
Our solution to weeds is clean, sand, and seal. If you get your joints re-sanded and you seal it and lock in that sand, you've done what you can do to prevent the weeds from coming up. And then it's just a matter of ongoing maintenance, which we have a VIP maintenance program that we offer our customers. But you can also do it yourself with just regular maintenance, as far as using weed killers and a chlorine/water mix to kill the weeds, kill the mold, that sort of thing.
So what you could do as a homeowner is pick them out as often as possible. Use Roundup or Ortho...product like that. Minimize the amount of live plants that you have on your pool deck or around your driveway and get on a regular maintenance program with your landscaping company, your home-watch guy, or even us with our VIP program. Cause they will require maintenance to keep weeds at bay. That's something I'd definitely recommend.
Another issue that I wanted to discuss about is mold. Now, mold, mildew, algae, (whatever you want to call it) because we're in a tropical environment, mold is always gonna grow. The ways to treat mold is with chlorine and water mixture, maybe a deck brush. You want to treat it periodically.
If you have areas that are damper than others, some pool decks, the water puddles in the corners of the screen cage. You get more mold there in the front. A lot of people get mold by the downspouts. They usually have them come out near the driveway and the mold will grow on the pavers or even in the mulch for that matter. So regular maintenance, whether it be the chlorine and water or use a Wet and Forget, which is a product you can purchase at Home Depot or Lowe's, that's a product that can help you with these things as well.
And it's just a matter of ongoing maintenance. If you ignore it and then six months later, you've got a ton of mold, it's a lot harder to keep up on. Whereas if you treat it on a regular basis and use the products recommended, light pressure, you'll usually get it off with a garden hose. It'll minimize these issues. If your pavers have been sealed, which is a service that we offer, it's a lot easier to maintain and it does slow down mold growth for the simple fact that when your pavers are unsealed, that moisture will sit in the joints and make mold grow. Mold likes damp, dark areas. If the pavers are sealed, majority of that water is going to remain on the surface, which allows it to dry out faster and evaporate faster. And that'll slow down the mold growth in general.
So I'd like to just offer my assistance. If you have any questions or problems with weeds or mold, or you'd like to talk more in depth, I'm always available. I recommend you call my office at (239) 288-0705. Ask for me. My name is Jeff Evers. My assistant will get me the message and I'll get back to you right away and I can help you out. And if you'd like us to help you with these issues, you can always set up an appointment with my assistant, schedule a free estimate, and we can help you get it on the track of being weed and mold free. Thank you for tuning into today's podcast.