Resanding vs. Sealing: What Your Pavers Actually Need First

Sealing over empty joints locks in the problem. Here is the right order of operations for a paver surface.

Homeowners often call asking for sealing when what the driveway really needs is sand. The two go together, but in a specific order, and skipping a step is how people end up paying twice.

What resanding does

Joint sand is structural. It is what lets a paver field flex under load and stay interlocked. When rain, blowers, and pressure washing strip it out, pavers start to shift, weeds move in, and ants take over the joints. Resanding restores that interlock.

What sealing does

Sealer protects the paver face from staining and UV fade and, with a joint-stabilizing product, hardens the sand so it stays put. What sealer cannot do is replace missing sand or fix a moving base.

The correct order

• Repair any sunken or root-lifted areas first
• Wash and treat organic growth at the root
• Let the pavers dry completely — this is where most bad seal jobs go wrong
• Resand the joints to full depth
• Seal, evenly, in appropriate weather

Rough budgeting

Washing is around $0.25 per square foot, resanding around $0.75, and sealing around $1.80, with a $200 minimum. Combining them on one visit is almost always cheaper than doing each separately, and our quote calculator lets you see the ballpark before you call.

Royal Blue Washing is family-owned, fully insured, and local — and every job starts with a free on-site inspection and a written estimate, not a guess over the phone.