Sheldon’s Paver Restoration Project – Reviving a 26-Year-Old Brick Paver Driveway

If you’ve ever stressed out over a paver restoration project at your home to improve your driveway, or at an investment property to generate more curb appeal, my story will be the best 5 minutes you will spend for a very long time.

In 2022, I started making some improvements to my 58-year old home. It’s a 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom single family home with a 2-car garage and a lake behind my back yard. My neighborhood is an average middle-class area, and most of the residents have been there for over 2 decades.

My brick paver driveway was a project I had put off for a long time, simply because I wasn’t sure of a few things:

My driveway was over 26+ years old. I couldn’t count how many times I asked myself “can you stain faded concrete pavers that old, and make them look good again?” Would it be worth the investment in my own time and labor, or should I just fork out the cash to replace it?

I had never done something like this before, and we were just exiting the Covid-19 pandemic, so I wasn’t interested in spending a lot of cash. Would I need to use paver restoration experts?

I was new to doing anything home or yard renovation-related. And while I was good at handy work with someone there, I had no one on my personal contact list who’d ever done this before. This would be new territory for me.

I failed to invest in a pressure washer earlier to routinely clean the surface, so prepping the surface to color it didn’t seem like it would be a simple job. I also had no clue which paver restoration products to use.

I wanted to regain a great-looking driveway to compliment the fresh coat of paint and the new roof on my house. However, I wasn’t interested in draining my bank account a whole lot further on paver restoration costs.

After all, this is what my driveway was looking like early in 2022.

With everything said above in mind, I decided to take the plunge and do it myself. Now, for the sake of full disclosure, I have known CoverTec Products and their Technical Director – Charles Idowu – for a few years.

And it’s been great to see countless before and after images his DIY customers, property managers and contractors send in from all over the world.  But, could I replicate those results?

I spoke with Charles after a meeting one day and told him about my old and embarrassingly dilapidated driveway. I’ll admit that I was really ashamed to send him the snapshots and phone videos of the driveway.

In fact, the conversation with him was my 5th or 6th attempt at mustering up the courage to admit to him that I never took much care of my driveway for the years I owned the house. I previously left that up to the yard maintenance folks I paid 2 times a month. You can see how that lazy strategy panned out in the picture above.

Charles looked at the picture and phone footage of my driveway, and quickly said…
“Ok, that looks pretty beaten up, but it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Just follow the steps I give you. Use the products in the right sequence. And you’ll be happy with the results.“

I felt relieved, but still nervous that I’d find a way to mess it up.

• First, I’d have to clean out the layers of mold and mildew – and other heavy deposits – from the porous brick pavers. He suggested that with the years of build up, I should use their Surface PrepWork product. It’s cleans out stubborn build up easily.

• Second, to really disinfect the pavers, I needed to use their Sanitizer Plus product to treat the surface. This would prevent the resurgence of any mold and mildew in the future. 

• Third, with the pavers completely dry and free of any loose contaminants like oil, dirt, paint, asphalt, etc. I needed to apply their ColorShot paver stain. I chose a color that matched the original red clay shade of the new brick pavers.

• Fourth, after the red paver stain was fully dried, I was told to apply the StrongSeal Wetlook sealer across the pavers. This would lock down the color and add a protective barrier against future damage from tire traffic, sunlight, rain, and any mold or mildew contamination. It would also provide a nice sheen to my pavers that really pops when the sun is out. 

It all made perfect sense. In fact, I felt stupid because I had recorded tons of videos for Covertec Products educating customers on what each product did, and how easy they were to use.

With that said, I took the plan, bought the right amount of each product (per Charles’ calculations), and scheduled a weekend to get it all done. 

I was truly impressed by how easy this project was. But, what amazed me even more was how awesome my driveway looked after it was done.

In fact, I had neighbors on both sides of me knock on my door to compliment me on the new driveway.

One asked me for the phone number of the contractor who re-did my driveway, because his co-worker needed a referral.

One neighbor who lives 3 houses down asked me to put him first in line to buy my house because he thought we were beautifying it to sell it.

It was an interesting experience to see the wide variety of reactions to a renovated, beautiful driveway. And please ignore the 2007 Mazda 3. It’s an eye-sore, but it’s my little workhorse to transport home improvement stuff from the hardware store.

For the sake of 100% transparency, this project was done in early 2022, and here’s what my driveway looks like in may of 2023.
And guess what, I still don’t pressure wash, or even sweep my driveway… and it still gleams when the sun is out on beautiful day.

For almost 3 years, I’ve heard Charles say to others that Covertec’s product line contains professional grade, premium products that clean, strip, seal and protect surfaces for years longer than hardware store products. But now I experience those results every time I leave or return home.  

This really blows my mind. Look how my driveway stands out from my neighbors’ driveways from a Google Earth view. 

My next project is replacing all of my interior floors with laminate wood or luxury vinyl tile. The wife and I are still fighting over which we’ll end up using. But I’m 100% sure that I’ll be using products from Covertec to clean and seal the flooring against the normal wear and tear interior floors have to endure.

If you’re planning for any home projects that involve stripping, cleaning, coloring or sealing surfaces like concrete, vinyl, terrazzo, ceramic or porcelain, consider a CoverTec solution. The end results are better, and they will last for several years longer than the cheap stuff found in big box stores. And CoverTec’s team will help you choose the right product for your specific surface, environment, and the end results you are looking for.

And if you’re looking for products only when they are on sale, join our newsletter list. We run special offers every season, and Charles rewards loyalty with customer-only specials that the general public will never see. So, if you have questions, pick up the phone call. Often times, you’ll speak with him directly.