Mexican Pavers

Many homes in Borrego include Mexican pavers in their home and landscape design. We have super Saltillo pavers inside the home as well as outside on porches. They have worn well for over twenty years and we like them just as well as when they were first installed. Pavers are usually handmade in Mexico, of clay. After being formed they are put outside in the sun to dry. Each paver varies to a certain degree. Some of ours have impressions of coyote footprints. One of our pavers displays someone's rubber tennis shoe heel print! There are, however, some things you should know about them before including them in your home design:
All pavers need a certain amount of maintenance to keep them looking good. After installation, a sealer is applied. This sealer prevents stains from entering the porous surface of the tile. This sealer may be solvent based or water based. Unfortunately for us, ours were first sealed with a solvent based sealer which caused them to darken. After several years I decided to restore the pavers to their original lighter, vibrant varied colors. The only thing I could find to remove the sealer was acetone. When I look back upon that project, I still cringe! It was probably the hardest work I have ever done and it took me bags of rags, wore out my knees and took weeks to finish...hand work - one tile at a time. This is the most important part of the message...I found D'mundo Tile Co. in Palm Desert. They educated me from that point on. They have all the supplies and will tell you everything you will ever need to know about maintaining your pavers!
Once a year for many years I gave the pavers an additional top coating...a very easy job! BUT...three or four years ago, decided to let someone else do the work...and guess what I just found out yesterday from the contractor doing the resealing? Another worker had used a solvent based sealer on our pavers a few years ago and that is why they were turning too dark for our tastes. And...strenuous work and volatile chemicals are needed to remove the solvent based sealers. The contractor stripped the kitchen and other areas of heavy use but will probably have to return to finish the rest of the flooring within a few years!

I hope this post will help some of you!