How to Clean Brick Paving

Brick paving looks beautiful, but the porous pavers collect dirt over time. All it takes are some simple cleaning steps to revitalize your pavers and make them look like new. Check out these tips to clean brick paving throughout your property.

Pressure Washing vs. DIY Cleaning

There are two main categories for cleaning brick pavers: DIY cleaning and pressure washing. Pressure washing, sometime referred to as power washing, uses a special machine to create a powerful stream of water. This stream is strong enough to blast moss out of the joints and stains off the surface, but it may be too powerful for some cleaning needs.

Power washing can be dangerous when not executed correctly, so be careful if you decide to do this yourself. You can hire someone to pressure wash your brick pavers, but you should verify their experience ahead of time.

DIY cleaning is more mild and safer to use on older pavers. This is also something you can tackle yourself, if you don’t mind putting in a bit of sweat equity. Check out the next section if you want to clean your pavers yourself.

How to Clean Your Brick Pavers

Here is a quick guide explaining how to clean brick paving:

1. Pull out weeds and moss. You can do this by hand or you can use a tool to pry out the weeds. Something as simple as a flathead screwdriver can do the trick, but there are specialty tools designed for this purpose.
2. Wash off the pavers to clear the dirt. You can do this with a hose with a pressure nozzle, or you could use a pressure washer if you feel comfortable doing so.
3. Use a soap solution to scrub the pavers. You can make this yourself using warm water and dish detergent, or you can purchase specialty paver cleaners. Pour the soap mixture onto a section of the pavers, and use a bristled brush or broom to scrub off stubborn dirt.
4. Rinse the pavers again. This will remove the remaining dirt and soap from the surface.
5. Allow the pavers to dry before resanding. The next section explains how to resand your pavers.

Note that older pavers or damaged pavers may not withstand high water pressure or abrasive scrubbing. Take this into consideration before selecting your cleaning method.

Resand Your Brick Pavers after Cleaning

The cleaning process will likely blow away a decent amount of your paver sand. This can also happen from general wear. Thankfully, it doesn’t take much to resand your pavers and make them look like new.

Pour paver sand onto a small section of your pavers, and then use a broom to sweep the sand into the joints. Do this until the sand is nearly to the top of the pavers but not to the point that it is overflowing.

Use a hose with a mist nozzle to gently spray water over the paved area. This will compact the sand and lock it into place. Be careful not to use too much pressure because that may blast the sand out from the joints.

Continue to resand every few years, as needed.

Get Complete Brick Paver Restoration from Mortar City Masonry

Mortar City Masonry offers brick paver restoration, which includes resetting uneven pavers and resanding the joints. Not only will we clean your pavers, but we’ll make the entire hardscape look freshly installed. If you need new brick paving, brick paver repair, or paver restoration services, contact our Michigan brick paving company: (586) 533-1305.