If you’ve recently had a paver patio, driveway, or pool deck installed, there’s a good chance your installer (or even the paver manufacturer) told you that sealing isn’t necessary.
Technically, they’re right—there’s no law that says you must seal your pavers. But here’s the better question: Do you want your pavers to look great and last longer with less maintenance? If the answer is yes, sealing is one of the smartest investments you can make.
Why Do Installers Say Pavers Don’t Need Sealing?
This usually comes from the manufacturer. Their goal is to sell a product that’s marketed as “low-maintenance.” If they told homeowners that sealing was required, it could make the pavers seem like more work or more expensive to maintain.
From the perspective of the manufacturer, they’re not wrong—an individual paver doesn’t require sealing to exist. But as a homeowner, you’re concerned about the performance of the entire space—not just a single paver. That’s where sealing makes a big difference.
Benefits of Sealing Pavers
1. Protection Against Stains
Oil, food, leaves, and even irrigation or pool water can leave stubborn stains. A quality sealer acts as a barrier, minimizing stains and making spills easier to clean.
Ask yourself: if the manufacturer says sealing isn’t needed, are they also guaranteeing their pavers are stain-proof? (They’re not.)
2. UV Protection to Preserve Color
Paver colors are created with pigment, and pigment fades in the sun over time. Sealing with a product that includes UV blockers helps maintain those rich colors longer.
Unless your manufacturer claims their pigments don’t fade in sunlight, sealing is the only way to protect against UV damage.
3. Extending Surface Life
Every surface wears down over time from foot traffic, vehicle traffic, rain, and sun exposure. Sealing adds a protective layer that slows that wear, preserving the surface texture and appearance.
4. Joint Protection and Stability
Most of the long-term maintenance of a paver system happens in the joints between the stones. Without care, joints can:
Wash out in rain
Harbor weeds or moss
Become home to ants or pests
That’s why at Perfect Paver Co., sealing isn’t just about the surface. As part of our process, we install polymeric sand in the joints. This sand hardens after activation, locking the pavers in place and minimizing future joint maintenance.
The Bottom Line
Sealing isn’t required—but it’s highly recommended if you want your patio, driveway, or pool deck to:
Look better longer
Resist stains and fading
Require less maintenance
At Perfect Paver Co., we’ve built our process around sealing not just the paver surface, but also strengthening the system as a whole by stabilizing the joints. It’s an investment that pays for itself in reduced upkeep and longer-lasting beauty.
If you’re unsure about whether sealing is right for your pavers, we’d be glad to walk your project with you. We’ll explain the options, answer your questions, and recommend the best approach for protecting your investment.
Travertine is beautiful, cool underfoot, and a favorite for patios and pool decks. One of the most common questions we hear is:
“Can I fill the holes in my outdoor travertine?”
The short answer: yes, you can—but we don’t recommend it. Here’s why.
Why Does Outdoor Travertine Have Holes?
Travertine is a type of limestone formed naturally with air and water pockets. When it’s cut into tiles, those pockets are exposed as pits or voids. These aren’t defects—they’re part of the stone’s natural character and actually improve traction underfoot.
What Happens if You Fill the Holes?
Indoors, filling can make sense. But outdoors, filling usually leads to problems:
Discoloration – fillers weather differently in sun, rain, and pool water.
Maintenance – they often pop out in freeze–thaw cycles.
Safety – filling reduces the stone’s natural texture, making wet surfaces more slippery.
What Should You Do Instead of Filling Travertine Holes?
The best way to keep outdoor travertine looking good is through proper care, not filler. We recommend:
Deep cleaning to remove dirt, algae, and buildup from the pores.
Correct joint sand (for sand-set systems) for stability and drainage.
Water-based penetrating sealer to enhance color, protect against stains, and preserve traction.
Will Sealing Travertine Make It Slippery?
Not if the right product is used. A penetrating sealer soaks into the stone instead of forming a film on top. It protects the surface while keeping the natural, slip-resistant texture.
Is It Ever Okay to Spot-Fill Outdoor Travertine?
Technically, yes—you can fill larger pits. But expect ongoing maintenance, color mismatch, and patches that pop out over time. Most homeowners are happier embracing the natural look outdoors.
Professional Help for Travertine in Ohio, Florida, Indiana and Georgia
If your travertine is looking tired, uneven, or discolored, professional cleaning and sealing is the safest way to restore it. Perfect Paver Co. specializes in paver and natural stone care across Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, and Florida.
Are you grappling with failed or broken plastic edging around your pavers? Follow along with us here at Perfect Paver Co as we show you our process of replacing damaged edging and offer insights into why this maintenance is crucial for the stability of your outdoor space.
Why Plastic Paver Edging Fails:
Plastic paver edging plays a crucial role in holding the setting bed beneath your pavers. When it fails, it can lead to the edging popping up above the pavers, causing the setting bed to wash out. This, in turn, can result in pavers shifting and spreading away from the intended pattern. (Photos 1 and 2 illustrate broken or popped-up edging, while Photo 3 showcases pavers shifting and spreading.)
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
How to Replace Paver Edging:
To address this issue, the first step involves excavating the dirt or mulch around the edging and completely removing the old, failed edging (Photo 4 provides a visual example). We then use our Perfect Paver Edge, a robust and flexible cement-based product, as the edge restraint system. Once installed, Perfect Paver Edge acts like a flexible rubber band around the pavers, effectively locking them in place (Photos 5, 6, and 7 demonstrate the installation process).
About Perfect Paver Edge:
What makes our edging superior is the inclusion of shards of fiberglass mixed with the cement, acting like little pieces of rebar. This prevents the edging from breaking apart, even if it does crack during freeze-thaw cycles. Additionally, a polymer (plastic) ingredient is added to our edging, providing flexibility during freeze-thaw cycles. This allows the cement to expand and contract with a reduced chance of cracking.
Photo 4
Photos 5,6,7
In cases where the edging failure has allowed the pavers to spread or shift, the repair process may also involve resetting the affected pavers. It’s crucial to assess the extent of movement and address any necessary adjustments during the paver edging repair for a comprehensive and lasting solution.
Finishing Touches:
After Permaedge is in place, we replace the surrounding area with dirt, grass, or mulch, effectively concealing the edge restraint system from view (Photo 8 and 9 showcase the final result).
Photos 8 and 9
Ready to revive the stability and aesthetic appeal of your outdoor space in Columbus, Cincinnati or Dayton, OH? Let us come and replace your failed or broken plastic edging and keep your pavers secure and visually pleasing. Perfect Paver Co is here for all of your concrete paver solutions.
Hey there, Mark here, the owner of Perfect Paver Co. Today, I want to share a recent conversation I had with my good friend Robert, a skilled paver patio installer. This chat shed some light on why Perfect Paver Co stands out when it comes to paver restoration, repair, cleaning, and sealing.
Picture this: Robert and Perfect Paver Co both recently bid on a restoration project, a paver driveway that needed some TLC. Now, Robert is a top-notch paver patio installer. He creates stunning patios that are the envy of the neighborhood. However, there’s a catch. He doesn’t often handle the repair, cleaning, or sealing of pavers – it’s not his expertise.
So, when Robert received the call to bid on this project, it was a departure from his usual realm of designing and expertly installing pavers. As someone renowned for creating stunning paver patios, this project’s requirements, including selecting the appropriate sealer and polymeric sand, as well as accurately estimating the required man-hours, were somewhat unfamiliar to him. Recognizing the importance of delivering excellence, he reached out to me for guidance. Our ensuing conversation proved to be enlightening and paved the way for valuable insights.
Robert started by saying, “Mark, how are you guys so cheap?” I was taken aback and asked him to clarify. It turns out, the project we both bid on revealed a significant price difference. But the real question was, why?
I explained to Robert that at Perfect Paver Co, paver restoration, repair, cleaning, and sealing are our bread and butter. Here’s why our pricing is fair and competitive:
1. Specialization: We specialize in paver restoration work. Our team of over 50 skilled employees works on projects like these every single day. We’re not jacks of all trades; we’re masters of restoration.
2. Equipment: We’ve invested in specialized equipment designed for paver restoration and sealing. This means we get the job done efficiently and effectively.
3. Continuous Training: Our crew undergoes extensive training to ensure they know the ins and outs of paver restoration work. They’re always up-to-date with the latest techniques and best practices.
4. Material Sourcing: Robert was buying materials off the shelf at retail prices. In contrast, we’ve spent a decade testing different sealers and have our own sealer manufactured for us. We buy materials like polymeric sand in bulk, which cuts costs significantly. This means our material costs are likely half of what a contractor like Robert might pay.
So, here’s the key takeaway for our potential clients: when you choose Perfect Paver Co, you’re not just getting a paver company; you’re getting a team of experts who specialize in what we do. We have the experience, the equipment, and the knowledge to get the job done right, efficiently, and at a fair price.
Now, you might be thinking about hiring a paver installation company or a landscaper for your project. That’s perfectly fine, but I’d encourage you to check their reviews. See how many of them mention the specific type of project they were hired for. Experience matters, and it’s evident in the feedback from our satisfied customers.
So, when it’s time to restore, repair, clean, install polymeric sand, or seal your pavers, remember Perfect Paver Co. We’re not just about pavers; we’re about perfection. Your satisfaction is our guarantee, backed by years of experience and a commitment to excellence.
If you have any questions or need paver-related advice, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to make your paver projects perfect!
Our paver restoration process comes from 20+ years of experience, hard work, and dedication – and passion for restoring outdoor hardscapes. Have you ever wondered what that might entail? Check out our process for a recent project that needed some proper love and care to restore it back to being beautiful once again 🙌
Step #1: Paver Repairs and Edging Replacement
Step #2: Steam Cleaning Paver
Step #3: Install Polymeric Sand in Paver Joints
Step #4: Apply Color Enhancing Paver Sealer
Our process is designed to make your pavers look as good as possible. You’ll be happy to entertain and your family will spend more time outdoors – MAKING MEMORIES!
We service:
+Ohio (Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus)
+Florida: (St Lucie County, Palm Beach County, Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Lee County, +Collier County, Charlotte County, Sarasota County)
If you have paver steps or walls that are falling down or lean over, there are some underlying issues that might be causing this. Scott shares the reason why this specific project has begun to fail, and how to fix the issue the right way!
Does your patio have loose or falling paver steps?
Are you worried about slipping or falling off of them?
Watch Scott show you why your paver steps might be like this, and what we can do to fix it. We see these type of repairs often and have an extended amount of knowledge of how to go about fixing it right, the first time.
Hi, I’m Mark with the Perfect Paver Company and I came out to Jupiter, Florida today to show
you the perfect example of why it’s so important to seal your pavers.
Today, we’re at an outdoor mall area and if you’re from the Jupiter area, you probably know exactly where I’m at. So what I want to show you is, throughout the outdoor area you have these overhangs and the overhangs prevent water from hitting the pavers underneath of them. Obviously outside of the overhangs, the water is able to directly hit the pavers.
So, what’s happening is because they don’t have gutters or downspouts, the water is actually coming off of the overhang and directly hitting the pavers, and it’s expediting and magnifying the impact that rain has on pavers and so protecting your pavers from rain is the number one important reason why you want to seal your pavers.
So, here’s something else; the pavers directly underneath the overhang are exposed to a lot of high volume water and it’s deteriorating the surface of the paver. You’re starting to see a lot of aggregate exposed, which isn’t good.
If you come up over here underneath of the bench area and overhang you don’t see any of the exposed aggregate, which is the white rock coming through. It’s still has all of its original surface intact.
So, the number one reason why you seal your pavers is to prevent rain deterioration, rain damage because it’s inevitable, it will happen on concrete pavers and so I’ll walk around and show you just some places where you can see how the rain is deteriorating the surface of concrete pavers.
So here’s a section where you have these overhangs and if you look directly beneath them where the water hits the paver, it’s a clean line where that water is coming off and it’s deteriorating the surface.
Pavers on my left, not exposing rain, they look beautiful. Pavers on my right, rain makes them look terrible.
Hey come closer, something else I noticed is it’s not just pavers that are affected by rain. Look at this bench exposed to rain – destroyed. It looks much better protected from the rain,
Obviously, the sun plays a huge role as well. You want to protect the Pavers from the sun. The UV rays really go after the color and attacks those, starts drying those out, dulling those out.
Most importantly, if you coat your pavers and protect them from the rain, they will last significantly longer and look significantly better for longer. Mark with Perfect Paver Company, that’s why you should seal your pavers.
Hi, Mark, with the Perfect Paver Company here to answer another frequently asked question. Today’s question is, “Will sealing my pavers, make them look brand new again?”
So, unfortunately in most cases, the answer is no, unless of course your pavers are brand new. So what I want to try to do today is educate you on what you can expect from sealing your pavers. And I want to start by giving you a little education on how a paver is made and what happens as it weathers and how that affects the appearance that you get when you seal your pavers.
How A Paver Is Made
So, the first thing I want to do is explain to you how a paver is made. So when they make a concrete paver, it’s a mixture of aggregates, medium-sized small size, sand, and Portland cement. The Portland cement is the powder. That’s the gray stuff that you see mixed in around all of the rocks. The Portland, cement, and the sand mixed together is where the color lives. So when they made this paver, they mixed all of those ingredients, the sand, the small rocks, and the Portland cement together. Then they mixed it with a color additive; the color additive lives in that Portland cement.
So if you look at the top of a weathered paver, you’ll see that you start to see some of those rocks, the Portland cement has weathered away. And as I mentioned before, all of the color lives in the Portland cement, you can now see the natural color of the rocks. So the more your paver weathers, the more rocks are exposed and the less color containing product is still left in the paver.
Older Paver
So here, I’ve got this paver that’s been sealed on this side, not sealed on this side, and you can see there’s definitely some color enhancement, but it doesn’t look as good as it could look because of the aggregate being exposed in the paver.
The way that a paver weathers is actually by rain. So as rain continues to hit the surface of the paver, it will start to deteriorate the finer material or the Portland cement from the surface of the paver and start to expose those little aggregate pieces. You can actually see this, if you look at your pavers that are maybe under the overhang or under a roof at your front door and compare those to the pavers that are further out in your yard or your driveway.
You’ll notice that you’ll see more exposed aggregate to the pavers that are exposed to rain versus the pavers that aren’t.
Newer Paver
So if you look at a newer paver, you will see that you don’t see any of the exposed aggregate. You’ll notice the before, it’s more of a muted out a look, and then it’s enhanced pretty significantly by being sealed because there’s more of the pigment, more of the Portland cement that contains the pigment left in the surface of the paver. Therefore, you’re going to get more enhancement when we seal it.
Comparison
So side by side, they both been sealed. And as you can, you’re getting more enhancement from the new paver than you would from the older paver, primarily because of the pigment.
Color of Your Paver
So I talked about how the age and how a paver is weathered plays a role and the results that you get from sealing your pavers. The other thing that I want to talk about is the actual color of your paver. So there are a few different color ranges or color options when you get pavers. You can have more vibrant colors like reds, oranges, greens, blues, and you can have more earth-tone color pavers, like tans, grays, and those types of colors.
Typically, when a manufacturer makes a paver in an earth tone color, they’re trying to make it look like nature. So the color isn’t going to be as enhanced, it’s not going to be as vibrant, it’s going to be a little muted out and feel more natural and organic. When you go with reds, oranges, blues, and greens, it’s intention is to be vibrant.
So when you seal a paver that has that vibrant style color, like a red, green, blue, orange, you’re going to get a lot more enhancement, but still needing to factor in the age of the paper because you can see a difference. This is a red paver here on the right and a natural tone paver on the left. You’re getting more enhancement here on the left, but this is a brand new paver. This red one is probably a 20 year old paver.
So color plays a big role as well. Reds, blues, green, oranges; they’re going to get more color enhancement, while earth-tone colors like tans and grays; you’re going to have less color enhancement from those. But that should be expected because you’re hoping for those colors to continue to be more earth tone, natural, organic looking.
How Well Have Your Pavers Been Maintained Throughout Their Life
The third factor in determining how well your papers are going to react to being sealed is how well they’ve been maintained throughout their life.
If it’s an older paver, but it’s always been regularly sealed, then it’s more likely to have less exposed aggregate because the sealer, if it’s kept on a paver will help prevent that deterioration from happening.
Sometimes we get the most difference between the before and after on pavers that have been previously sealed and most importantly pavers that have been previously sealed incorrectly. So when a paver has been sealed incorrectly, the sealer will eventually turn a milky white and hide all of the color like the picture below.
It will appear as if all of the color in the paver has faded away. However, when we come in and strip all of that sealer away, then you get to see what you actually have left in terms of color and that paver and then we reseal it and all of that color comes back to life.
So when you’re looking at a before and after of a job that was sealed previously incorrectly, and it had been sealed a lot, or it’s a newer paver, like the example below, and then it’s been stripped and resealed correctly, it looks very dramatic in the before and after, but we didn’t do anything to that paver other than strip it and reseal it correctly.
So, that’s why you’re seeing the most dramatic difference in those pictures because of the fact that the sealer had turned white and failed, and once that’s removed and sealed correctly, you get a lot of pop or a of enhancement if the paver that we stripped does, in fact look good under the sealer or it’s been well maintained.
So that hopefully gives you a quick rundown on what you can expect by sealing your pavers. Please comment below with any questions that you might like me to answer in my next frequently asked question video.
Hi, I’m mark with the Perfect Paver Company, back with this week’s frequently asked question. Why should you seal your travertine pavers?
What’s Happening?
Trust me you’re not alone if you have travertine pavers, you had them installed, they were beautiful and just a few months after, you see mold, dirt, and maybe even vegetation growing up everywhere. It’s so frustrating because you made the investment in your travertine pavers because it was supposed to look better and now it’s actually making your pool deck or your outdoor space not look as good. So the question all the time that we get is, “why should I seal my travertine pavers?” and that’s a great question.
First Reason
There’s a couple of reasons, the first reason that we suggest you seal your travertine pavers is because travertine is extremely porous. There are a lot of holes, capillaries pores, and those types of things in the travertine and those holes can fill up with moisture and water and stay damp, creating the perfect conditions for things like mold and algae to not only grow and germinate, but thrive and it kind of takes over. You have this beautiful pool deck made of travertine and the next thing you know, you have all this black mold and it’s just dingy and dull.
So, by sealing travertine with the proper sealer, a nice penetrating version of sealer, it’s going to minimize water’s ability to soak into that stone and therefore the stone is going to stay dry under the sealer and it’s gonna make it harder for things like mold, algae, and mildew and those types of things to grow.
Now, just sealing it by itself won’t completely eliminate the problem, but the other cool thing that it’s going to do is it’s gonna make it easier for you to also keep it clean, get that organic material off the surface of the stone. By getting that organic material off, those microscopic spores of mold and algae that’s trying to germinate won’t have any food to be able to derive.
Second Reason
So, the other reason why we suggest sealing your travertine pavers, especially in a Florida climate, is if you’re around a pool deck that’s a salt water pool. If you’re near the water, there’s a lot of salt in the air and travertine is actually a form of limestone. Limestone is very sensitive to salt.
What We Do To Solve The Problem
So we utilize a sealer that acts as a salt barrier that prevents salts ability to deteriorate the stone or deteriorate that limestone. It will actually eat it if it’s left unprotected, so seal your travertine because it makes it easier to maintain it, it can make it look better depending on which style of sealer that you go with, and it’ll help protect it against deterioration from salt.
Hope that answers all your questions about why you should seal travertine pavers and if you would, leave me a comment below and let me know what you’d like me to answer in next week’s frequently asked question.
Thanks again, Mark with Perfect Paver Company. Hope you have a great day.
(937) 306-7613
