We’ve all seen that one house on the block. The siding is spotless, the lawn is like a golf green and the roof lines are crisp, but the driveway looks like it has been through a war zone. It’s grey, it’s worn, it has oil stains in the darkest of patches and weeds growing through the cracks as though a miniature jungle had sprouted in the cracks. This is a startling contrast that can give an impression of the house being new make a five-year-old home look like it was built in the seventies.

But why does the pavement give way so much earlier than the rest of the house? When you finish your walls and roof, they will remain standing, but your driveway is an active “work zone” constantly battling chemistry, physics and the local climate.

Large home with a large driveawy.

The Slow Bleach: Constant UV Exposure

Imagine your driveway is a dark t-shirt that has been hanging on a clothesline for 3 years in a row. Your driveway is a huge, flat, horizontal surface that can be a direct target for the sun, while your house siding is typically vertical (which is good for dissipating direct sunlight) and your roof is constructed with special granules that reflect heat.

  • When there is a lot of heat, ultraviolet rays carry out a process known as photodegradation.
  • It actually dissolves the bonds of the colors of your pavers.
  • That charcoal hue that you chose at the showroom? If not protected, will become a dusty light grey within a couple of seasons.
  • But it’s not simply a change in colour: the sun dries out the binding agents in the material which means that it feels brittle and “bony” to the touch.

The “Hidden” Saboteur: Sprinkler Overspray

You may believe that you are simply watering your lawn, but the way that your sprinkler heads are set up is basically like you are “painting” your driveway with minerals in the morning. It’s a common household issue for homeowners. Tap or well water is usually “hard,” which contains calcium, magnesium and sometimes iron.

After the sprinklers stop, when the sun comes out, the water evaporates, but the minerals remain. This results over the years in:

  • White, chalky material on the surface known as efflorescence.
  • Rusty orange streaks that make it appear as if the driveway is bleeding.
  • Tenacious stains on porous stone similar to “water stains” on a glass shower door.

The Daily Grind: Tire Marks and Heat

Your house doesn’t need to be the scene of three-tonne SUVs manoeuvring around it every afternoon. Your tires are hot when you get in your garage, as they are hot due to the friction of the road. That hot rubber rubs against the pores of the pavement as you turn the steering wheel to realign the car.

This causes “tire scuffing”, which looks like these black stripes that can’t be scraped out of the tires. On an unmaintained surface, these are not merely lying on the top, but they’re very much a part of the texture. It is similar to people sweeping your front yard with a huge eraser every day! After a while, due to the accumulation of rubber, dirt from the road, and fluids that leak, the surface gets a very dirty look, and even rain won’t clean that.

Drainage Fails and the “Settling” Trap

When weeds invade your driveway, you’re not only dealing with a garden issue, you may be having a drainage issue too. If water is not directed away properly, it will infiltrate the sand joints and start to wash away the foundation below.

Once this base layer moves:

  • The pavers will begin to “tip” or sink.
  • This forms little pockets which gather dirt, making an ideal environment for seeds to plant themselves.
  • Moisture can build up and lead to “spalling,” which is when the outermost layer of stone begins to chip and crumble revealing the unattractive stone beneath.

The Maintenance Fix: Sealing the Deal

The other reason your home is always in new condition is that you take care of it – you paint the trim, clean the gutters and wash the windows. It is easy to overlook the driveway, as we see it as “just stone.”

That’s where a quality sealant can make a difference:

  • It’s like a clear-coat in your car or a top-coat on your wooden deck.
  • The professional seal forms a hydrophobic seal; water rolls off, and so do the not so nice minerals in the sprinklers.
  • It is also a sunblock, which protects those costly pigments from UV bleaching.
  • If you live in a sunny climate, you might want to consider investing in something unique such as Riverview FL paver sealing for faded pavers, because it may help to turn back the years of neglect.
  • The good seal helps to restore the “wet look” or deep matte that makes the pavers look so good in the first place.
  • It also “locks” the joint sand, making it nearly impossible for weeds to take hold or for the stones to move in the case of a big rain.

The Bottom Line

The driveway is your home’s “handshake,” the first contact and view that others have with your home. It’s not necessary to have an older, less appealing entrance just because it’s hot outside or your car is loaded and heavy. With a little attention to your sprinkler aim, keeping your drainage clear and applying a protective seal every several years, you can maintain your driveway’s “biological age” with the rest of your lovely home. Some preventive maintenance goes a long way in maintaining curb appeal.