How do I clean sealed pavers between professional cleanings?

Tech Spec 5 describes this job in one paragraph. For small areas, ICPI writes, “an adequate cleaning job can be achieved without this equipment. Such areas include residential patios, walks, or small driveways. Cleaners can be applied by hand, the pavers scrubbed to remove dirt and efflorescence, then thoroughly rinsed with water from a garden hose.” The equipment it sets aside is the pump spray and high pressure sprayer it has just described.

The same paragraph rules out one tool: ICPI turns down steel bristles, which it says loosen, rust and leave stains, and accepts brass or plastic ones. It also names its reader: “This method of cleaning is for do-it-yourselfers who wish to refurbish a small area of pavers.”

That is ICPI's description, not a recommendation from this page. The paragraph is also written about concrete pavers and says nothing about a sealer already on the surface. How much a sealer eases the work is taken up at whether sealed pavers are easier to clean.

No document cited here pairs a particular cleaner with a particular sealer family, and this page does not guess. ICPI's general instruction points to the label: “With all stain removers, cleaners, joint sand stabilizers, and sealers, the label directions and warnings should be read and carefully followed for all precautions.” On a sealed surface that means two labels, the cleaner's and the sealer's.

ICPI's other cautions are about the cleaner itself. A cleaner is tried on a small area first to test its results and any color change, it says; protective clothing and goggles are worn with acidic solutions; and acidic cleaners may harm vegetation and grass and should not run onto it.

A drip of motor oil is a stain with remedies of its own, set out under oil stains on pavers.

The Natural Stone Institute writes its own cleaning line for stone: “Clean stone surfaces with a neutral cleaner, stone soap, or a mild liquid dishwashing detergent and warm water.”

Acid is where the materials part. The institute says acidic products may dull or etch calcareous stones, and how that caution sorts travertine, marble and concrete pavers is set out under concrete pavers, travertine and brick; whether acid can be used on travertine at all is answered at can travertine be cleaned with acid.

ICPI's method is a hand method, and three neighboring questions go past it. Pressure on a sealed surface is answered at can sealed pavers be pressure washed later. Bleach on pavers and sealer is at will bleach hurt my pavers. A tire mark is at can tire marks be removed from pavers.

The sealer under the cleaning also wears, and ICPI expects reapplication after a period of wear and weather. Why a sealed surface collects dirt at all is answered at why sealed pavers still get dirty.