Driveway, Entry & Paver Sealing
National Golf & Country Club

Lennar opened National Golf & Country Club with a grand opening celebration on March 7, 2020, inside the town of Ave Maria in Collier County. It offers four collections: Terrace condominiums, Veranda townhomes, and Executive and Estate single-family homes, from 1,120 to 3,473 square feet. Floor plans include outdoor patios, so even the smaller homes have pavers or a slab to look after.

Every garage apron collects tire marks and drips. On new, unsealed pavers they soak in quickly, and the first few years are when a drive goes from new to tired.

Ave Maria Utility Company supplies reclaimed water that the Stewardship District uses for irrigation. Sprinkler heads along drives on streets such as National Boulevard, Double Eagle Circle and Ellerston Way throw that water across the pavers every week.

Sprinklers along drives and walks leave orange rust where iron in the water oxidizes. It needs rust chemistry before sealing, or it gets locked under the finish.

Rust and new pavers call for care. Rust remover is applied, given time to work and rinsed off completely before the main wash. Once the drive is clean and dry, the joints come next.

With final homes still being built nearby, construction dust settles on drives and walks. A clean after the dusty phase, then sealing, starts the paver life off right.

Ave Maria is inland, about 36 miles northeast of downtown Naples, in wetland country near Corkscrew Swamp. Homes here face the Gordon B. Lewis-designed course, a lake or preserve. Leaves from the preserve side collect in patio joints and are blown out before sanding, and lake-side decks that stay damp are given extra time to dry.

For joints we follow Alliance Gator’s instructions. The pavers must be fully dry before polymeric sand is swept in. A plate compactor settles it, a second sweep and vibration fills the low spots, and the finished line sits about one eighth of an inch beneath the paver edge.

Car traffic needs the right product. Alliance Gator recommends Gator Maxx G2 for driveways, while Gator Nitro and Gator Dust are not meant for vehicles. Once the sand has dried, cars can go back on after 24 hours.

Watering is done with a gentle shower nozzle, one section at a time, without letting any part dry out before it is finished. G2 sands need only that single watering and can take rain after about 15 minutes on a well-drained base. Alliance Gator’s broader advice is 24 hours without rain, so we skip afternoons when storms are building.

Where a sunken or rocking paver has broken its joint, the old sand is removed to a depth of at least 1 1/2 inches before refilling. Plain sand never goes in as a base layer beneath a polymeric top, which is how patched joints fail.

Construction dust and humidity can both leave a white cast. Alliance Gator says haze on new joints comes from installing in high humidity or on damp pavers, and that an efflorescence cleaner or hot pressure washer takes it off. It has to be gone before any sealer goes on.

Sealing closes the surface so stains sit on top, polymeric sand locks the joints, and the next cleaning is quick. For Estate homes with pools, the pool deck gets a slip-resistant sealer.

Sealer types differ. SEK’s water-based acrylic sealers, SB-1300 and SB-7700, coat the surface and also stabilize the joint sand, which helps against weed seeds and ants. SB-4000 soaks in and stays breathable as a water repellent, leaving the pavers looking natural. A wet-look product such as SB-6000 deepens color but is a surface film.

Every label sets its own wait. SEK wants at least 24 hours after washing, sand activation or rain before SB-6000, with air between 40 and 95°F, a surface below 120°F and two coats. It allows foot and car traffic after 24 hours and cures fully in seven days. Techniseal’s WA asks for 30 days after polymeric sand, no rain or sprinklers for 24 hours, and 48 to 72 hours before driving.

For Estate homes with a pool, the deck gets one slip-resistant coat rather than a glossy film. Techniseal notes that a second coat on dense, low-porosity pavers can become slippery, and that film-forming coatings carry a small risk of trapping efflorescence. A breathable, penetrating product avoids both issues where owners prefer a natural finish.

Since irrigation runs on timers, owners should switch off zones that reach the drive the night before sealing and for the following day. We remind you when we book.

The clubhouse pool and chickee bar, the Har-Tru tennis center and the sports club are run by the club, not by owners; our work covers private drives, entries, patios and pool decks, plus Terrace and Veranda walks and entries quoted to the association.

Re-sanding up to 400 square feet starts at $199 and cleaning plus re-sanding at $349. A clean, sand and seal up to 400 square feet starts at $399. A standard Estate drive at $599 and slip-resistant pool deck sealing at $499.