Clean, Re-Sand, Seal and Relevel: Paver Restoration in the Right Order

What paver sealing and restoration covers

This service bundles four separate jobs that usually get quoted and done together: pressure washing to strip algae and grime, re-sanding the joints with dry or polymeric sand, a sealer coat, and, where a section has sunk or gone wavy, releveling the base underneath the affected pavers. None of those steps is optional filler to pad a quote; a sealer applied over loose joint sand or a low spot in the base just locks the problem under a glossy finish instead of fixing it, so the order in which they happen matters as much as whether they happen at all. For the original install spec on a driveway, patio or pool deck, see paver driveways, paver patios or pool deck pavers; this page covers what it takes to bring an existing paver surface back to that condition.

Cleaning: what a pressure wash actually accomplishes

Pressure washing alone runs about $0.35 to $0.80 per square foot and does more than make a dull surface look new; it strips the algae, grime and old sand haze that would otherwise get trapped under a fresh sealer coat (HomeGuide). It also doubles as an inspection pass. A wand held close and straight down into a joint pulls out whatever sand is still sitting there, which defeats the point of a step meant to prep the surface rather than strip it bare, so the spray goes in at an angle across the field, with direct pressure saved only for a stain that actually needs it. Walking the whole surface during this stage, not just the obviously dirty sections, is how a soft spot or a rocking unit gets caught before any sand or sealer goes down over it.

Re-sanding: dry joint sand or polymeric sand

Once the surface is clean and dry, the joints get swept full again. Dry sand and polymeric sand do the same basic job differently, and the choice changes how often the next visit is needed.

Joint sand and sealer are both optional refinements under the industry's own construction standard, not a requirement for a paver field to perform (ICPI Tech Spec 2).

Plain sand costs less upfront and is easier to top off by hand between full services. Polymeric sand costs more at the time of installation and holds up better against washout, which matters more on a sloped patio, a driveway apron that sees runoff, or a pool deck that gets splashed daily. The full trade-off is in polymeric sand vs. regular joint sand.

Sealing: wet-look, natural finish and why there's no fixed resealing interval

A sealer coat deepens paver color, adds sheen if it's a wet-look product, and slows UV fading and staining, but the paver industry's own technical guidance gives no fixed number of years before a coat needs redoing, only that it "requires reapplication after a period of wear and weather" and that acrylic coatings typically hold up a few years before a recoat is worth it (ICPI Tech Spec 5). A driveway in full sun with daily car traffic wears through a coat faster than a shaded walkway on the same property ever will, so the real clock is the surface itself: water that used to bead and roll off now soaks in, or a color that looked rich has gone flat. A wet-look sealer darkens and adds noticeable shine compared with a natural matte finish, and there's no single standard dictating which one a given product produces, which is why we test a small, less visible section before committing a whole surface to it. Wet-look vs. natural-finish sealer covers the look each one leaves behind.

Releveling a sunken or rocking paver

A paver that's sunk or started to rock almost always points to a problem underneath it, a soft spot or a void in the compacted aggregate base, not something a surface coat can reach. The fix mirrors the original installation on a smaller scale rather than patching over it.

1. Pull the affected paver or pavers. The unit comes out intact in most cases so it can go back in the same spot.
2. Rebuild the bedding sand. The sand layer under the removed paver is restored to its original, uncompacted depth, not just topped off.
3. Reset the paver flush. The unit goes back in level with its neighbors and checked with a straightedge across the joint.
4. Sweep and compact fresh joint sand. New sand fills the joint around the reset paver and gets compacted into place.
5. Match the surrounding sealer and sand. A previously sealed area gets the reset section brought back into line with the rest of the field.

Paver repair work, priced by scope rather than a flat per-square-foot sealing rate, runs roughly $7 to $30 per sq ft nationally (Angi), and a Southwest Florida contractor quotes paver repair in Cape Coral at a narrower $4 to $8 per sq ft (Outdoor Life Pros). A small corrected area costs far less than letting several pavers in the same spot sink before calling it in.

Why Florida ground makes joints and bases move

Flatwoods soils common to both service areas, Myakka among them, hold a seasonal water table within about 18 inches of the surface for part of most years (NRCS, Myakka series). When that water table rises into the base under a paver field, fine material can migrate upward through the joints from below, not just wash out from above during a storm, which is one reason a patio or driveway on this kind of ground often needs its joints checked more than once a season even without a change in traffic. Ridge sands farther from the coast drain fast enough that the same joints tend to go longer between visits. Orlando averages 51.45 inches of rain a year and Sarasota–Bradenton about 49.05, most of it in a rainy season running roughly late May into mid-October (NOAA 1991–2020 normals); scheduling cleaning and sealing for a dry stretch, rather than racing a forecast, keeps a sealer from going down on a surface that's still damp underneath.

Cost of paver cleaning, re-sanding and sealing

Combined cleaning, re-sanding and sealing runs $1.50–$3.25 per sq ft (clean, re-sand, seal) in current Florida market data, typically $1.75–$2.75 (HomeGuide; Castle Clean & Seal, Central Florida). These are market ranges compiled from published contractor pricing and cost guides, current as of October 2026; a written number for a given surface follows a site visit, not a guess from the square footage alone. The paver sealing cost guide breaks the range down by surface size and condition.

Permits for cleaning, sealing and releveling

Cleaning, re-sanding and sealing an existing paver surface isn't new construction and doesn't touch the right-of-way, so none of the jurisdictions in either service area treat it as permitted work. Releveling a small, localized section follows the same logic. A large releveling job that amounts to pulling and rebuilding most of a driveway or patio's base, by contrast, is close enough to a new installation that it can trigger the same permit review a new paver surface would; widening or rebuilding a driveway covers that line. On any contract over $2,500, Florida's lien law still requires a recorded Notice of Commencement before work starts (F.S. 713.13), and since 2026 an HOA can't require a government permit as a condition of reviewing a project (F.S. 720.3035), which can matter if a different sealer finish changes how a paver surface reads from the street.

Caring for pavers between professional visits

A light sweep and an occasional rinse between full sealing visits keeps windblown sand and grit from scratching a sealed surface underfoot, since that slow abrasion does more cumulative damage than any single storm. A handful of joints losing sand faster than the rest, often near a downspout or a shaded corner that stays damp, can usually be topped off by hand rather than left until the whole surface needs attention again. Acidic or ammonia-heavy household cleaners can dull or strip a sealer coat faster than ordinary sun and rain ever would, so checking a product's label against paver compatibility before using it on a stain is worth the extra minute. How to clean pavers without ruining the joints or sealer goes further.

How do you choose the best paver sealing contractor near you?

Paver sealing contractors near me turns up plenty of results in both service areas; a few questions sort the ones who inspect the base from the ones who just spray and go.

• Ask whether the crew checks for sunken or rocking pavers before cleaning, not after the sealer's already down.
• Get the sand type specified, dry or polymeric, rather than a generic line item that just says "re-sand."
• Ask to see a sample of the sealer finish, wet-look or natural, on a small test area before committing the whole surface.
• Check the business on the DBPR license search if the scope includes any base rebuilding beyond spot releveling.
• Confirm the order of operations in writing: any releveling first, then cleaning, then sand, then sealer, not sealer first.

Why pavers sink in Florida, and how it gets fixed and the white haze on new pavers go into the causes behind two of the most common calls.

Where we clean, re-sand and seal pavers

We clean, re-sand, seal and relevel paver surfaces across Greater Orlando and Sarasota–Manatee. Related towns: paver sealing & restoration in Orlando, paver sealing & restoration in Windermere, paver sealing & restoration in Sarasota and paver sealing & restoration in Bradenton.