Paver Sealing & Sanding
The Vineyards

Reclaimed water carries iron. Wherever sprinklers reach a drive, an entry wall or a paver walk, it oxidizes into orange arcs that build up season after season.

Older Vineyards drives have often been pressure washed for years. Joints are low, pavers have shifted and weeds and ants have moved in. Polymeric sand brings the joints back up and locks them.

Under mature landscaping, drives stay damp and joints grow black algae. That comes out with the right treatment before sealing.

A sealer closes the surface so the next sprinkler hit rinses off instead of soaking in. On reclaimed-water properties that can noticeably stretch the time between rust treatments, especially when sprinkler heads are also re-aimed.

A big, varied community off I-75. The Vineyards covers about 1,375 gated acres in North Naples, entered from Vineyards Boulevard just off I-75 at 75 Vineyards Blvd, ZIP 34119. Homes have been built here from 1986 to the present, and there are roughly 2,700 or more residences across 38 or so neighborhoods. A 1980s coach home and a recent custom estate can be a few streets apart, and their pavers rarely need the same thing.

From coach homes to mid-rise condos to estates. The housing mix takes in single-family homes, attached coach homes, condominiums including mid-rise buildings, and custom estates. Coach homes usually have short shared or paired drives, which is why we seal both halves together. Mid-rise condo pavers at entries and pool decks are association property and quoted to the board. Estates bring long drives and motor courts, which fall in our large driveway tier.

Two courses, two sets of sprinklers. The North Course by Mark McCumber is a Scottish-links style layout and the South Course is a Bill Amick design. Reclaimed water irrigates much of that golf-course landscaping, so homes backing on either course often see iron on the rear paver patio and pool deck as well as the front drive. We treat both sides of the house, and we note on your record which zones come from the course and which from your own system.

The oldest drives first. On pavers that are thirty-plus years old, joint sand is often gone well below the surface. Alliance Gator recommends clearing failed sand at least an inch and a half deep before refilling, and says not to fill partway with regular sand and cap it with polymeric. The new sand is swept in on a dry surface, settled with a plate compactor, topped up, settled again, and only then gently wet so it can cure.

Rain windows. Gator’s G2 sands can tolerate rain in about 15 minutes on a free-draining base, while its standard Gator Maxx needs about an hour, and the general recommendation is 24 hours without rain. In a North Naples summer that usually means starting early and checking the afternoon storm forecast before the sanding day.

Waiting before the sealer. Manufacturers do not agree on how long to wait between sanding and sealing. SEK asks for at least 24 hours after cleaning, sand activation or rain before its SB-6000 sealer, while Techniseal asks for 30 days before its WA wet-look product. We follow the label of whichever sealer you choose, which is why some Vineyards jobs finish in one visit and others are sanded first and sealed on a return trip.

Choosing a finish your neighborhood allows. With so many sub-associations, the rules for appearance are not uniform. A clear, natural sealer rarely changes the look and is routine. A wet-look or tinted finish deepens the color, so ask your neighborhood’s committee first if your area has standards. We supply the product name and a test patch if they want to see it.

Club, park and Publix days. The roughly 70,000-square-foot Vineyards Country Club clubhouse, the satellite pools in many neighborhoods, the 12 Har-Tru tennis courts, the adjacent 32-acre Vineyards Community Park and the Crossroads Market Publix keep people out of the house. We are pre-registered at the gate. Leave irrigation off the night before, cars out of the drive, and we send a written record once finished.

Haze after sanding. Alliance Gator traces a white film on newly sanded pavers to high humidity or pavers that were still damp at installation, and says it can be removed with an efflorescence cleaner or a hot-water pressure washer. Shaded Vineyards drives under mature oaks and palms are where this is most likely, so we give them a full drying day after cleaning. If a haze does appear, we remove it before any sealer is applied rather than coating over it.

Ant hills and weeds in the joints. Low, sandy joints on older drives are an open invitation for fire ants and sprouting weeds. Mutual Materials, the SEK Surebond distributor, notes that its joint-stabilizing acrylic sealers such as SB-1300 and SB-7700 seal the surface and help hold the joint sand, which also discourages weed seeds and ants from settling in.

Pool decks under screen. Many single-family homes have a paver pool deck inside the cage. Sunscreen, chlorine film and leaf tannin are cleaned off first, then a slip-resistant sealer goes down in one coat; Techniseal notes a second coat on low-porosity pavers can become slippery, so we do not double up around water.