Are tumbled pavers cleaned differently?

The difference starts at the edge of the unit. SEK-Surebond's Technical Bulletin TB.6, its site preparation steps before a sealer goes on, sets the joint sand line two ways. On a paver with a chamfer, joint sand or polymeric sand, a product used for joint stabilization, should not exceed the bottom of the chamfer. For the other case TB.6 names, the limit is 1/8 inch “below the surface of a non-beveled or tumbled paver surface.”

A chamfer is the small angled edge around the top of a unit, which maker literature also calls a beveled edge; both words have their own glossary entries. Tumbling can distress edges, as the Brick Industry Association notes for fired clay pavers, and TB.6 names the tumbled surface alongside the non-beveled one rather than measuring it from a chamfer.

SEK-Surebond's line is a ceiling, not a target. Its verb is “should not exceed,” so 1/8 inch below the surface is the highest the sand should sit on a tumbled paver, not a height to fill to. Unilock's own figure, to keep jointing materials approximately 1/8 inch below the chamfer, assumes the unit has a chamfer to measure from. Whether the sand goes in before or after the sealer, and how long each has to dry, is set out in SEK-Surebond's numbered site preparation steps.

ICPI's glossary lists tumbling among the mold or mechanical treatments that alter a unit's surface, alongside shot blasting, grinding and polishing, and says “The purpose of such treatments is often to simulate the appearance of stone.” The Brick Industry Association says fired clay pavers can be tumbled too, to create distressed edges. What a tumbled paver is, and how a maker gives it that worn look, is defined in the glossary.

So a tumbled unit is a concrete paver or a clay one with a treated face, and the cleaning rulebook follows the material. A tumbled concrete paver sits under ICPI's Tech Spec 5 like any other concrete paver, including its instruction to use a wide spray nozzle at a low angle so joint sand stays in the joints, and to try cleaners on a small area first because cleaners with strong acids change paver color slightly. Those steps, and what a cleaning takes off, are laid out under what a paver cleaning removes. A tumbled clay paver is still clay brick, and the Brick Industry Association's cleaning note governs it instead.

Nothing in either rulebook read for this page adds a tumbled-paver exception to the chemistry or the pressure. Tremron, a Florida paver maker, says certain pavers are not designed to be tumbled. That is a catalog matter, not a cleaning instruction.

ICPI's sealing guidance is written with a chamfered paver in mind. It says sealers are often applied with a foam roller to dry pavers having clean surfaces and chamfers, and that “Sealer should be spread and allowed to stand in the chamfers, soaking into the joints.” On a unit with a tumbled face and softened edges, the liquid has low spots and uneven texture to settle into instead.

One sealer maker writes that case down. Seal 'n Lock's Super-Wet-Look product guide, issue date 8/16, tells applicators to use a leaf blower to “blow out any sealer that puddles in the low lying areas of the pavers,” naming textured pavers, natural stone and the paver joints in the same sentence. It also recommends a leaf blower to move the sealer around for consistency on textured pavers and natural stone.

Uneven results after sealing have their own list of causes, sorted under why a patio looks blotchy after sealing.

Put together, the published sequence for a tumbled surface is the ordinary paver sequence with two checks sharpened. It describes what the documents say, not any one company's method.

• Identify the material. A tumbled concrete paver follows ICPI's Tech Spec 5; a tumbled clay paver follows the Brick Industry Association.
• Clean by that material's rules. For concrete pavers, ICPI says to try the cleaner on a small area first.
• Let the surface dry to the condition. ICPI asks for at least 24 hours without moisture or surface dampness before most sealers.
• Check the joint sand line. On a non-beveled or tumbled surface, SEK-Surebond's TB.6 says it should not exceed 1/8 inch below the surface.
• Apply the sealer to its own label and watch the low spots. Seal 'n Lock's guide says to blow out sealer that puddles in textured pavers and joints.

The fourth and fifth steps are where a tumbled patio differs from a chamfered one. The first three are the same for any paver of the same material.