Concrete Sealing: Frequently Asked Questions
Whether for your home or business, concrete sealing extends the life of your investment. Protect your concrete against extreme weather, freeze-thaw cycles, and heavy traffic with a concrete sealer.
If you're like most customers, you have questions about how concrete sealer works. Here are some of the most common ones we get.
While concrete, brick, and stone surfaces are known for their strength and durability, they are inherently imperfect substances and won’t last forever.
These surfaces are subject to structural deterioration and degradation of appearance through traffic, UV rays, moisture, freeze/ thaw cycles, wind-driven rain, chemicals, and other impurities such as oil, gas, grease, and salt. This often results in common problems such as pitting, opouts, scaling, spalling, crazing, delamination, dusting, discoloration, efflorescence, salt damage, etc.
Concrete such as driveways, sidewalks, patios, etc. Stamped concrete can be sealed. Brick and stone can also benefit from sealer.
Yes. Stamped concrete should be sealed very soon after it is installed. Waiting too long will result in leaf and other kinds of stain which can be difficult to remove.
Conrete sealing prolongs the life of concrete, locking out damage caused by water, oil, fertilizer, salt, and other substances. It protects the concrete and provides for a nicer looking finish. If you don't seal your concrete, especially in high traffic areas like driveways, sidewalks, and parking lots, your investment will not last as long.
Most chemically reactive sealers are nearly invisible because they penetrate into the concrete. Solvent-based acrylic resin sealers and epoxies provide significant color enhancement and give concrete a high-gloss wet look. Water-based acrylic resin sealers provide moderate color enhancement and a satin appearance.
Urethanes (generally applied as topcoat over epoxy) are available in a wide range of finishes, from matte to gloss. Many sealers can also be colored with translucent or opaque tints.
It is best to let new concrete cure completely (3-5 days). Sealers must be applied under dry conditions and the air temperatures should be above 50°F during sealer application and for at least 24 hours after.
Apply sealer after the concrete is cured (typically 28 days or as recommended.) The best time of day is the afternoon after the morning moisture has evaporated and it is not the hottest part of the day.
Water, oil, fertilizer, salt, and other substances that may deteriorate the concrete and shorten its life.
Reactive penetrating sealers generally have little effect upon the concrete surface profile or traction. They have no impact or minimal impact on changing the traction coefficient.
Sealers penetrate the concrete so reactive chemical sealers will last the longest and generally only wear away if the substrate surface itself wears away, which may be 5 years or longer.
Water-based sealer products are generally considered the most environmentally friendly.
It is generally not recommended to use topical or penetrating sealers to repair cracks, in particular cracks greater than 1/16". Sealers are intended as a sealing product is not fillers or patching materials.
Most concrete sealers dry fairly quickly and usually dry to touch within 1-3 hours.
While many homeowners attempt to seal their own concrete, it can be trickier than you think. To ensure it is done properly Precision Concrete can provide a free estimate and recommendations on the best type of sealer to use for your specific project. Whichever brand of sealer you use, be sure to follow the specific instructions recommended by the product manufacturer.
We recommend sealing stamped concrete every 2-3 years. Penetrating sealers need to be resealed every 5-10 years. If it is a high-traffic area and/or exposed to the elements it will need to be re-sealed more often. The frequency of the Michigan freeze-thaw weather cycle can impact it as well.
There are two methods for removing sealers from concrete: 1) Mechanical, which consists of grinding, blasting or sanding the coating off the surface.
2) Chemical, using a chemical stripper to remove the coating. We don't recommend removing sealing, but rather reapplying regularly to maintain protection.
Yes, you can seal bricks. If the bricks are old and crumbling it is best to get a professional opinion and estimate for the best products and solutions to use.
Yes! One of the main reasons for applying concrete sealing is to protect your concrete from things like salt, oil, sunlight and other substances. Concrete sealers of any type have been proven to increase the lifespan of salt-treated concrete three to five times.
It is important to apply concrete sealer in optimal conditions (dry and 50 to 90 degrees F). Once the sealer is applied and dried it will protect your concrete from extreme hot or cold weather.
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