Paver repair and relevelling
Repair and relevel
Read more
Pavers in Frederick & Central MD
Paver sealing and joint sand
Full joints are structural; sealer is mostly cosmetic. We will do both, and we will tell you which one your patio actually needs — because it is usually the sand.
Licensed & insuredFree written estimatesFrederick-based crewClean-site guarantee
Quick answer
What does paver sealing cost in Maryland?
Cleaning and re-sanding joints runs $1.50 – $3.50 per square foot. Add a penetrating sealer and it is $3.00 – $6.00; a film-forming, enhanced-look sealer is $4.00 – $8.00. There is a minimum visit of $550 – $950 because the cleaning, drying and set-up time does not scale down with area. Stripping a previous sealer that has failed is $2.00 – $5.00 per square foot on top, which is worth knowing before choosing a film-forming product.
The work
What sealing and sand actually involves.
This is the page where we talk ourselves out of work. Sealing a paver surface is sold hard, and most of what gets claimed for it is overstated. Sealer does not hold a patio together, it does not stop settlement, it does not stop weeds growing in empty joints, and no sealer available will guarantee you never see efflorescence. What holds a paver field together is full joints and edge restraint, and if your patio has lost its jointing sand then sand is what it needs — with or without sealer afterwards.
What sealer does do is worth having on the right surface. It makes a patio easier to clean, slows organic staining, resists oil on a driveway, and in the case of a film-forming product deepens the colour to the wet look some people want and others dislike intensely. Those are real benefits and we are happy to deliver them. They are just not structural, and a sealing quote that implies otherwise is selling you the wrong thing.
Polymeric joint sand is the other half of this page and the more important half. It is sand with a binder that sets firm after wetting, so the joints resist washout, shed surface water, and leave very little for a windblown seed to germinate in. Swept full, properly, into dry joints and set correctly — which is where most of the failures come from, because sand that was put in damp or never activated does not do the job it was bought for.
Joints swept full and set with polymeric sand
Penetrating or film-forming sealer, explained honestly
Nobody promises you will never see efflorescence
What sealing and sand costs in Maryland
Maryland paver sealing and re-sanding, 2026. Priced per square foot, with a minimum visit because set-up, cleaning and drying time do not scale down. Cleaning a heavily stained or organically grown surface is the variable.
- Clean and re-sand joints
- $1.50 – $3.50 per square foot
- Clean, re-sand and penetrating sealer
- $3.00 – $6.00 per square foot
- Film-forming or enhanced-look sealer
- $4.00 – $8.00 per square foot
- Minimum visit
- $550 – $950
- Stripping failed existing sealer
- $2.00 – $5.00 per square foot
- Heavy organic or stain cleaning
- Quoted after looking
Ranges, not quotes. Real numbers come from a walkthrough — access, condition, height and finish level move a price more than square footage does. Estimates are free and in writing.
Get your numberFull sealing and sand cost guide for MarylandPrefer to just talk?
Call and describe the job. You’ll get a straight answer on whether it’s something we do and roughly what it runs.
(301) 524-1729
Self-performed
Paver sealing and joint sand
What’s included
Everything the sealing and sand scope actually covers.
Written into the estimate, not assumed. If something on your job is not on this list, it gets priced and named before anyone starts.
Clean, dry surface first
01Organic growth, old failing sealer and the silt in the joints come out before anything goes on. Sealing over algae locks it under a film and re-sanding over silt means the new sand never reaches the bottom of the joint. This is the unglamorous majority of the labour and it decides the result.
Joints swept full, then set
02Polymeric sand worked right down into dry joints rather than brushed across the top, excess removed from the paver faces, then activated with the right amount of water in the right sequence. Too little and it never binds; too much and it washes the binder to the surface as a haze.
The right sealer, or none
03Penetrating sealer leaves the appearance essentially unchanged and works below the surface. Film-forming sealer sits on top and gives the wet or enhanced look — more dramatic, more maintenance, and it will eventually need stripping rather than just recoating. We show you both on your own stone before you choose, and we will say when the answer is neither.
Honest about efflorescence
04The white haze that appears on new concrete pavers is salts migrating out of the unit, it is normal, and it generally weathers off over a season or two. No sealer prevents it reliably, and sealing too early can trap it under the film where it is much harder to deal with. We would rather wait than sell you a product that makes it worse.
Driveways treated as a different case
05Oil, tyre scuff and de-icer put a driveway under loads a patio never sees, which changes both the product and the re-coat interval. A sealed driveway is a maintenance commitment rather than a one-off, and we say what that interval realistically looks like before you spend the money.
What we will not claim
06Sealer does not stop a base settling, does not replace edge restraint, does not stop a joint washing out where water is being delivered across it in volume, and does not make a failing patio sound. If those are the problems, the repair page is the honest answer and this one is not.
On the job
Pavers work across Frederick & Central MD.
What the trade looks like at each stage. Photos of our own recent jobs come out at the walkthrough, on the actual house.
Straight answers
Sealing and sand questions
Not covered here? Call and ask — you’ll get a real answer, not a “depends on the job”.
No. Pavers do not need sealing to last, and plenty of twenty-year-old patios have never seen any. What they need is full joints and intact edge restraint. Sealing is a choice about appearance and ease of cleaning — it slows staining, helps on a driveway with oil, and a film-forming product deepens the colour if you like that look. We would rather you spend the money on sand and restraint first and decide about sealer afterwards.
It depends entirely on which type and where. A penetrating sealer on a patio lasts years and simply fades out rather than failing visibly. A film-forming sealer on a driveway taking sun, tyres and de-icer is a much shorter cycle and eventually needs stripping rather than recoating, because coat over failing coat is how you get a cloudy, peeling surface. That is the main reason we talk people through both before they commit.
Almost certainly efflorescence — soluble salts migrating out of the concrete unit and crystallising on the surface. It is normal on new pavers, it is not a defect, and it generally weathers off over a season or two of rain. Sealing too early traps it under the film where it becomes genuinely difficult. There are cleaners for it, but the honest first answer is usually to wait, which is why we will not sell you a sealing job on a patio laid last month.
Same crew, same visit
The rest of the pavers work.
Most pavers jobs are two or three of these at once, which is why they are priced and scheduled together rather than as separate call-outs.
From the field
Read up before you book.
Longer answers than a quote page has room for — how the work fails, what putting it right actually involves, and when waiting is the honest call.
Sources worth your time
Check us, and check the work
None of these are ours. They are the offices and standards bodies that set the rules we work to, so you can verify what we say rather than take it.
Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association
The body that sets installation guidance for interlocking concrete pavement and segmental retaining walls, formed when ICPI and NCMA merged. Base depth, compaction, edge restraint and the height at which a wall needs engineering all come from here rather than from us.
OpenNational Association of Home Builders
Where the residential-construction standards and material research behind these decisions are published.
OpenMaryland Home Improvement Commission
Check any Maryland contractor's licence before you sign. Ours is on file with the Commission.
Open
Talk to the people doing the work
Get a straight number for the whole job.
Tell us what needs doing. We’ll walk it with you, sequence every trade it touches, put the price in writing, and leave you to decide.
Get a quote
Let’s price your project.
Two short steps. No obligation, no pressure — just a clear number and a straight answer about what the job involves.
Tick as many as you like. Most jobs are two or three of them at once, and I sort out the detail when I come and look. Nobody gets turned away for choosing the wrong box.
