Paver Sealing & Sanding
Pelican Preserve

Pelican Preserve is a gated 55+ community that WCI Homes built off Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers between 2001 and 2020. It covers roughly 1,100 acres and holds 2,498 residences, so paver work here runs from a single carriage-home entry to a full Estate driveway.

The housing mix explains that range. There are condominiums, four-unit two-level carriage homes, attached cottage pairs, villas and Grand Villas, plus single-family Classic, Grand Cottage and Estate homes. A shared carriage-home walk is a different job from a private driveway, and we quote each by its square footage.

Nearly every home here is CBS stucco under concrete tile, so pavers run right up to painted stucco and garage doors. We cover those surfaces before cleaning and keep stain treatments off the paint.

Unsealed pavers are porous. Where sprinklers run on reclaimed water, as many Pelican Preserve listings show, communities often see mineral overspray soak in and leave orange arcs along the edges of drives and walks.

Reclaimed-water marks get their own step. We work them with a rust remover made for pavers, rinse, and check the area again once it has dried, before any sand or sealer is brought out.

Joints lose sand to every storm and every pressure wash. Once the joints are low, pavers start to rock, ants move in and weeds take root. Polymeric sand fixes that by hardening in place.

When joints need rebuilding, the old sand comes out at least an inch and a half deep. Alliance Gator, a polymeric sand maker, tells installers never to fill the lower part with ordinary sand and cap it with polymeric, and we follow that rule.

Polymeric goes only onto pavers that are fully dry. It is swept in, run over with a vibrating plate, swept and vibrated a second time, and left about an eighth of an inch below the beveled paver edge.

Water sets the binder. We use a shower nozzle and keep each section damp until it is done. Alliance Gator’s G2 sands need just that one watering and are rain-safe in about 15 minutes on a draining base, though the company’s general advice is a full day without rain, so the forecast sets our schedule.

For driveways, Alliance Gator recommends Gator Maxx G2 and says its Gator Nitro and Gator Dust products are not meant to carry cars. We match the sand to where people park and where they only walk.

A good sealer then closes the surface so stains, oil and algae sit on top instead of soaking in. On homes built anywhere from the early 2000s to 2020, that also brings back color that the Florida sun has faded.

The gap between sanding and sealing depends on the product. SEK’s Surebond SB-6000 asks for at least 24 hours after cleaning, sand activation or rain, while Techniseal’s water-based WA asks for 30 days after polymeric sand. We follow the label of whatever goes on your pavers and book the sealing visit to fit.

SB-6000 is applied between 40 and 95°F on a surface cooler than 120°F. It takes foot and vehicle traffic after 24 hours and reaches full cure in seven days. Techniseal WA keeps cars off for 48 to 72 hours and asks that sprinklers stay off while it sets.

Owners can choose the type of protection. A joint-stabilizing acrylic such as SEK’s SB-1300 or SB-7700 coats the surface and helps hold the sand, which discourages weeds and ants. SB-4000 is a penetrating silane/siloxane that breathes and repels water instead of forming a film.

Lanai and pool decks get a slip-resistant sealer in a single coat. Techniseal points out that a second coat on dense, low-porosity pavers can turn slippery, which nobody wants beside a pool.

A white haze sometimes appears on fresh joints. Alliance Gator traces it to humidity or damp pavers during installation and removes it with an efflorescence cleaner or hot water under pressure. We clear it before sealing, since Techniseal notes film-forming coatings carry a small risk of trapping efflorescence.

Recoating follows wear rather than the calendar. Techniseal says no sooner than two years and notes that heavy traffic and harsh climates shorten a coating’s life, so a busy driveway can come due before a side path.

Pavers near the 38-acre nature preserve, with its butterfly garden, fishing pier and boardwalk, and those along the 27-hole golf course, are rinsed so runoff goes onto turf rather than toward the ponds.

Re-sanding up to 400 square feet starts at $199, and cleaning with re-sanding at $349. Cleaning, sanding and sealing up to 400 square feet starts at $399, a standard driveway at $599, and a slip-resistant pool deck at $499.