Sweep them, deal with spills the day they happen, keep the joints full of sand, and wash them with a domestic pressure cleaner rather than a hire-yard machine. Two things you should never do to brick paving: sandblast it, or clean it with muriatic acid. Both are permanent. Well Laid Paving Perth lays and relays paving across the Perth metro area — see our paving services in Perth — and this is what we hand over with a finished job.
Why you should never sandblast brick pavers
Because blasting takes the fired face off the paver and nothing puts it back. Heritage Victoria’s Cleaning Masonry Walls guidance, adapted from an October 1997 publication of the Heritage Council of New South Wales technical advisory group, advises that grit blasting should generally be avoided, and that it erodes the protective surface off sandstock brick. You are left with a rougher, thirstier face than the one you paid for.
On concrete pavers the colour goes with the face. The Concrete Masonry Association of Australia’s maintenance guide for concrete segmental pavements (PA04, 2014) explains that the pigment sits in the cement paste at the paver surface, and that heavy-handed abrasives or acids can destroy that paste and alter colour and texture irreversibly. Blasting is not cleaning. It is early wear, and the only repair is to lift the units and lay replacements.
Why you should never use muriatic acid on brick pavers
Because it can stain the brick permanently, and it is doing a job you almost certainly do not need done. Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid, also sold as spirits of salts. Think Brick Australia’s Clay Masonry Cleaning Manual (Manual 13, published 2008, revised December 2017) sets out that its purpose is dissolving portland cement out of mortar smears, that it has few other uses, and that in many staining situations it should not be used at all.
The damage has a name. That manual describes acid burn: a yellow to rust-brown iron oxide stain formed when hydrochloric acid reacts with iron in the brick or the mortar sand, most obvious on cream brick, and usually caused by not saturating the surface first, by mixing stronger than 1 part acid to 20 parts water on light bricks, or by hosing off too slowly. It warns that bricks manufactured in Western Australia need a shorter standing time or secondary staining can occur. Midland Brick’s paver maintenance guide (page checked August 2026) adds that hydrochloric acid is not recommended on sealed masonry pavers because it may damage them irreparably.
If you are reaching for acid because of a white bloom on new paving, put it down. That is efflorescence, a salt deposit rather than dirt. Think Brick’s manual says it mostly goes on its own, hurried along with a stiff dry brush and a vacuum, because rinsing reabsorbs the salt and it returns as the brick dries. PA04 adds that repeated acid cleaning can increase efflorescence. Coastal jobs see more of it, sea spray being one salt source Think Brick lists — see what’s under your paving in Perth.
How should you pressure wash brick pavers?
With a domestic machine, a fan nozzle and the gun always moving. Midland Brick’s paver maintenance guide (page checked August 2026) puts the ceiling for a home wash at about 10 MPa — its figure, converted from imperial — because a more powerful commercial unit can damage the paver surface.
Think Brick’s manual (revised December 2017) states that turbo or rotary head attachments damage brickwork and must not be used, that a zero-degree jet should never be used while a 15-degree fan keeps pressure on the units rather than the joints, and that the nozzle belongs about 500 mm off the surface and never closer than 300 mm. Pause the gun in one spot and the surface abrades. Leave new paving alone at first: PA04 (2014) advises keeping water jets off a new pavement until the joints clog naturally, typically two to three months in service.
Replacing the joint sand after washing
Every wash takes sand out of the joints, and that sand is structural. PA04 (2014) explains that a segmental pavement carries load by the pavers wedging against one another, and the force only transfers while the joints stay full. It warns that inappropriate cleaning has caused trafficked pavements to fail once the joints lost too much sand.
Its remedy, where sand has dropped more than 10 mm: refill with dry bagged jointing sand, brush it across the joints until they are full, broom off the excess and recompact with at least three passes of a plate compactor, repeating until the joints stay full, with the paving bone dry. Under 10 mm, stop jetting until the cause is fixed. For what goes in, the City of Wanneroo’s brick-paved residential crossover sheet (correct as of July 2025) is the local benchmark: joint sand finer than the bedding sand, nominal maximum particle size 2 mm, free of salts and contaminants, into 2 to 4 mm joints, with a minimum 12 mm plywood sheet under the plate so faces are not chipped. Same sequence used when a brick driveway is built in Perth.
How do you get an oil stain out of brick paving?
Soak it up dry before anything wet goes near it. Think Brick’s manual (revised December 2017) says to scrape off hardened oil, mop free oil immediately with an absorbent such as paper towel, and not to wipe — wiping spreads the stain and forces oil into the masonry. Cover what remains with a dry absorbent and repeat.
PA04 (2014) names the absorbents: Fullers earth, talc, diatomaceous earth or cat litter, left 24 hours or more, then swept up. Only then bring in a degreaser, which Think Brick describes as a commercial emulsifying agent. Be realistic: PA04 states oil and bitumen stains are hard to remove completely whatever chemical is used, and that replacing the stained unit is often better — which is why it recommends keeping spares from the original delivery. Where none were kept, we can often match from second-hand and reclaimed stock.
How do you stop weeds and ants coming up through the joints?
Keep the joints full, and pull weeds while they are small. PA04 (2014) puts weed growth in segmental paving down to wind-blown seed germinating in the jointing sand, and recommends periodic weedicide applied in dry weather with the pavement dry. Ants work the same seam: sand heaped on the surface, joints going hollow.
Midland Brick’s guide (page checked August 2026) makes the practical point that a weed left to grow takes joint sand out in its root ball when you pull it. Think Brick (revised December 2017) treats established moss and mould by brushing hard, then a proprietary weed killer left on several days, then hot water and detergent. Whatever emptied the joint, finish the same way: refill and recompact.
Do brick pavers need sealing in Perth?
Clay pavers generally do not. Concrete pavers are a judgement call. Midland Brick, a Perth supplier, states in its maintenance guide (page checked August 2026) that its clay pavers need no additional treatment once down, while it recommends sealing its masonry pavers as soon as they are laid and completely dry, so spills soak in more slowly. Worth knowing which you have — see how clay and concrete pavers compare in Perth.
Sealing is neither permanent nor compulsory. PA04 (2014) reports that few sealants fully stop water entering a pavement, that sealing is mandatory only on airport pavements, and that coatings wear off under traffic with a service life of roughly one to three years. It also says not to seal a surface showing efflorescence. Marc Radaic’s advice has not changed since he published it in 2015: not all paving needs sealing, but where it is done it keeps the job looking new for years.
Get your paving cleaned up, or relaid, by the people who lay it
If the joints have gone hollow, a section has sunk or a stain will not come out, brick paving comes apart and goes back down: the same pavers, a corrected base, joints refilled and recompacted. Well Laid Paving Perth is family-run, works across the Perth metro area, Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 5:00pm, and Marc Radaic is on site from the first quote to the last paver. Call 0448 440 229 or get a free quote. What we lay and relay: brick paving services in Perth.
Sources checked: August 2026.