Can pavers be sealed if the sprinklers run at night?

ICPI states it as a single line of instruction: “Turn off all automatic sprinkler systems during cleaning, sealing and drying.” Techniseal's data sheets carry the same condition as a line item, “Sprinkler system must be turned off,” printed next to the requirement of no rain forecast for the next 24 hours.

SEK-Surebond's polymeric sand sheet carries an irrigation line of its own for the joint product, and ICPI's line and SEK-Surebond's are set out together as homeowner prep at the days the work actually happens on.

Turning the system off is not a single evening's instruction. The documents ask for a dry surface before a sealer goes on and a dry one after, and a cycle that fires in the small hours reaches the surface the same way a daytime one does. SEK-Surebond's SB-1300 sheet names condensation, with rain and dust, among what the surface is protected from while drying.

ICPI lists surface and joints that are not dry among the conditions under which a sealer may whiten, and says a sealer applied to saturated joint sand can become cloudy and “must be removed or re-dissolved,” with the sealer supplier consulted. A cycle the night before is one way joint sand ends up saturated on the morning of a sealing. The terms for the wait before and after are set out under dry time.

Which zones reach the driveway or the pool deck, and how many nights the controller stays off, is not read from a rule; ICPI's and SEK-Surebond's instructions tell the trade to turn the system off and stop there, without a count of nights for a given property.

The instruction covers more than the spray heads aimed at the lawn. ICPI's words are all automatic sprinkler systems, and a drip line or a bed zone that wets the pavers or the joint sand along an edge defeats the same condition ICPI sets before most sealers: at least 24 hours without moisture or surface dampness.

Collier County's Ordinance 2015-27, as the county's 311 knowledge base describes it, prohibits irrigation between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, limits irrigation to three days a week by odd or even address, and requires a rain sensor switch on every automatic irrigation system. The 311 article calls it the standard for landscape irrigation in the county and does not say whether it reaches an address inside the City of Naples or Marco Island, so a reader there checks the city's own ordinance.

The South Florida Water Management District's year-round rule also prohibits landscape irrigation between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., limits watering to two or three days a week depending on the area, and tells property owners to refer to their local or county ordinance. With the middle of the day closed to irrigation, a controller is set to run outside those hours, which is how a sealing done in daylight meets a cycle that night. Lawn watering and exterior washing run on different rules, set out at the water calendar.

A cycle that fires anyway puts water where the documents ask for none. Before a sealing it resets the dry condition, and on a fresh coat it is the case SEK-Surebond's TB17 describes, where rain too soon after application can leave the surface cloudy or blotchy. Whether exterior washing itself is allowed on a given day, a separate question from irrigation, is answered at cleaning during water restrictions.

Whether reclaimed irrigation water leaves marks on an exterior is a different question from drying, answered at whether reclaimed irrigation water stains exteriors. Where a sealer also stabilizes the joint sand, as SEK-Surebond describes its SB-1300, the joints are part of what has to be dry when it goes on; that joint role is defined under joint stabilization.