Welcome to the Adventures in Paver Sealing podcast with your host, Jeff Evers of Paver Protectors. Thank you for tuning in to the Adventures in Paver Sealing podcast. I'm your host, Jeff Evers and today I wanted to talk about sand levels. The sand level is the brick paver sand that's in between the joints of the bricks.
We often get asked, "Do we need sand? How do we know if we need sand?" ...and so on. So I wanted to make this podcast to address that issue so that people can listen to it. And then whether you're a paver sealing professional, somebody just getting into the business or a homeowner that is considering doing this themselves, you will have the information to get you started in making the decisions on what to do.
We often get asked, "Do we need sand? How do we know if we need sand?" ...and so on. So I wanted to make this podcast to address that issue so that people can listen to it. And then whether you're a paver sealing professional, somebody just getting into the business or a homeowner that is considering doing this themselves, you will have the information to get you started in making the decisions on what to do.
Advantages & disadvantages of re-sanding paver joints
There are many advantages and disadvantages of re-sanding your paver joints. First of all, you may ask "Why sand?" Well years ago, the sand was needed to keep the bricks in place to keep them from shifting. In a sense, it filled the gap between the bricks.
Now, most pavers are interlocking pavers, which means they have small ridges on the sidewall of the pavers, and when installed correctly, these ridges combined with the sand create the interlock, which keeps the bricks from shifting and keeps them in place.
Advantages to sanding is it will reinforce the interlock that we just discussed. When combined with sealing, the sealer will help keep the sand in place and this reinforces the interlock. To a lesser extent, it can help with weed growth, but it won't completely stop weeds. That's important to know when you have pavers. You're still gonna need a regular maintenance program or some type of treatment to repel those weeds. But sanding and then sealing to lock that sand in place, definitely helps.
Now some disadvantages: Really when the correct type of sand is used. There aren't any disadvantages that I can think of. If you use a poor quality sand, that could be a big disadvantage because it will most likely have seeds and nutrients, which will provide the perfect breeding ground for weeds, mold growth, as well as insect intrusion.
So there's different types of sand that you could choose from. If you use the wrong type of sand or just go with the cheapest, that will lead to more issues than you're already dealing with. So you may ask "What type of sand should I use?" Well, there's a couple of different types. There's paver sand or play sand as they call it. There's silica sand and a polymeric sand. I want to address all three of those, give you a brief description of what those are, and so on.
Now, most pavers are interlocking pavers, which means they have small ridges on the sidewall of the pavers, and when installed correctly, these ridges combined with the sand create the interlock, which keeps the bricks from shifting and keeps them in place.
Advantages to sanding is it will reinforce the interlock that we just discussed. When combined with sealing, the sealer will help keep the sand in place and this reinforces the interlock. To a lesser extent, it can help with weed growth, but it won't completely stop weeds. That's important to know when you have pavers. You're still gonna need a regular maintenance program or some type of treatment to repel those weeds. But sanding and then sealing to lock that sand in place, definitely helps.
Now some disadvantages: Really when the correct type of sand is used. There aren't any disadvantages that I can think of. If you use a poor quality sand, that could be a big disadvantage because it will most likely have seeds and nutrients, which will provide the perfect breeding ground for weeds, mold growth, as well as insect intrusion.
So there's different types of sand that you could choose from. If you use the wrong type of sand or just go with the cheapest, that will lead to more issues than you're already dealing with. So you may ask "What type of sand should I use?" Well, there's a couple of different types. There's paver sand or play sand as they call it. There's silica sand and a polymeric sand. I want to address all three of those, give you a brief description of what those are, and so on.
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