Film forming and penetrating sealers

While sealing stamped concrete surfaces, a lot of care has to be taken in choosing and applying the sealer coat. When it comes to stamped concrete, keeping up the superficial appearance is as important as ensuring its internal safety. Among the two types of concrete sealers – film forming and penetrating, a film forming sealer provides enhanced protection for visual appeal by forming a strong film on the surface and being more abrasion resistant.

Penetrating sealers are not the best choice for sealing stamped concrete. Nevertheless, in certain cases when matte finish is required instead of a high gloss look, penetrating sealer is the preferred choice. This kind of concrete sealer can also be an ideal choice when the sub terrain layer is high in moisture. By penetrating into the concrete, penetrating sealer not only protects from super-surface damage, it also protects from sub-surface damage. A water based film forming sealer could be applied over penetrating sealer for higher effect.

Film forming sealers not only provide protection from external damage, they also bring out the beauty and tone of the stamped surface. Colors look more attractive and bright when the surface is finished with this type of sealer. It provides a high-gloss finish to the surface. A concrete sealer (film forming) coat provides a high repelling protection, which means that harmful rays from the sun that cause dullness in the color pigment of the stamped surface, are reflected from the surface more effectively.

Acrylic and epoxy resins

Acrylic resins and epoxy or urethane systems are best suited for stamped concrete since they provide a higher level of surface protection. They are also the major forms of film forming sealers. Both the forms are excellent on providing protection against UV rays and moisture. Although acrylic resins used in film forming sealers lends higher beauty to the stamped surface, the surface tends to become very slippery when it gets wet. When concrete sealing is done for pavements and places where there is significant pedestrian movement, it is essential to provide an anti-skid protection to the surface.

Acrylic resins for sealing stamped concrete are very affordable when compared to epoxy systems. They are also easy to apply. However, epoxy has a longer life and provides better protection from external damages. Based on all these factors, concrete sealing is a good choice for your hard surfaces. An efficient sealer lends life, beauty and protection to the concrete surface.

Protection from environmental factors

The various uses of a concrete sealer coat can be summarised in five ways, which are protection, appearance, longevity, easy maintenance and stabilisation of surface. For a concrete surface to endure, it has to have protection since concrete, being extremely porous, tends to absorb almost everything that comes into contact with it. While staining and blemishes on the surface are common occurrences, concrete surfaces are prone to more serious damages such as effervescence, growth of micro-organisms and damage due to freezing and thawing in winters. In windy climate, the sand and fine aggregates that bind the concrete surface get blown away, causing the surface to wear a crumbling look. Further, dust tends to get jammed in the tiny pores of the surface, making it very difficult to clean. Providing a sealer coat protects the concrete surface from all these unwanted ramifications.

Enhances appearance

Appearance of the concrete surface is one of the major factors that contribute to the overall visual appeal of the space. Concrete sealer enhances the attraction of the patterns on concrete by providing a mild sheen to it. It is easy to wash stains off a concrete surface that has been sealed well since the sealer prevents stains from penetrating deep into the concrete surface. A simple washing using garden hose or pressure cleaning once in six months can do the most to have your sealed concrete surfaces shining. If you do find stubborn stains, a mild detergent wash will get it off, thus simplifying the cumbersome task of concrete maintenance. The entire appearance of your exterior space takes on a well-kempt appearance owing to concrete sealing.

Protects against fading

Another major problem with concrete surfaces is fading. While the natural color of concrete is a dull grey and not very appealing, color pigments are added to concrete when it is laid in order to lend it more attraction. Unfortunately, since the colored concrete layer is continuously exposed to UV rays from the sun, rain and other extreme climatic factors, the color tends to fade and within no time, your freshly done surface assumes an old and worn out appearance due to fading. Concrete sealer prevents early fading of concrete and keeps it bright and colorful for longer.

Financially attractive

The biggest use of concrete sealer is perhaps, its ability to save you money. This one time investment protects your concrete surface from various damaging elements and saves you the money that you would otherwise have to spend in repairing the surface. In cases of severe damage, the entire surface has to be pulled off and reconstructed, which burns a big hole in your pocket. Sealers help in avoiding these undesirable expenses.

Benefits of Concrete Sealing

There are multiple benefits of using a concrete sealer. The first being, that the sealer will extend the life of your driveway. People often invest a lot while building their driveway as it helps to maintain the cleanliness of your vehicles. You may also have built a driveway, to improve the overall look of your house. A sealer will make your driveway look decorative, as well as add a glossy look to it.

Your sealer will help you protect your driveway from the wear and tear caused by rains, snow and winds. Many a time, you may use ice melting products to get rid of the snow. These products often end up damaging the driveway. Furthermore, if your driveway absorbs water, then it is high time you got it sealed. When a driveway absorbs water, it starts loosening the concrete, and your driveway will soon start disintegrating. Hence, a sealer is very useful, and it will help prevent this corrosion and damage.

Buying a concrete sealer

Before you go out and buy a concrete sealer, you should always carry out some research. Surf online and read the reviews of the different types of sealers that are available. Read the technical sheet and compare the prices. Safety, good performance and aesthetics should be your primary criteria when choosing a sealer. Your concrete sealer should be dust proof, water proof, non yellowing and it should be resistant to oil, grease as well as acids. Along with this, it should have breathability. It should also enhance the overall look of your driveway.

You should be well informed before you walk into a store, so that you can buy with confidence. Do not let any salesman pull wool over your eyes. But it is also good to ask their advice. Look for the best selling products, and the ones that rarely get any complaints from the customers. Don’t go for the cheapest one, if it is not of good quality. With concrete sealing, quality is of utmost importance. If the sealer does not function well, you will have to spend additional money to strip it off and apply a new one.

Applying your concrete sealer

Once you have bought the sealer, you will have to apply it. It won’t take more than a day for you. You can hire a concrete contractor, if you don’t wish to get your hands messy, or apply it yourself. Neither does it require any special skills, nor any particular equipment. The kit comes with detailed explanation, which would help you use the concrete sealer properly. Once you have applied your sealer, your job is not over. You have to check it periodically, and reapply it in every few years time.

Protection – Sealers are of two types. Penetrating sealers and topical sealers. Topical sealers form a film like barrier on top of the concrete surface, while penetrating sealers go into the surface, bringing the molecules closer, therefore decreasing the porosity of the concrete. No matter which sealer has been used, it fulfills the purpose of keeping the concrete way from harmful substances. This helps to protect and strengthen the surface.

Weather conditions – In places with extremely cold weather or where weather that changes quite a lot, sealing concrete surfaces helps to prevent quite a lot of damage. The harm from freezing and thawing constantly is reduced to a great extent because of the sealer. Without the sealer the ice and snow could have melted and gotten into the surface, which concrete as a porous material would have absorbed easily. This would have caused problems like wet concrete which would be hard to repair without redoing the entire surface. But with the sealer, the ice and snow can be cleared off with utmost ease.

Reduces Damage – Sealing concrete helps to reduce cracking in the surface, it reduces spilling and pitting, and damage from radon emission, concrete dusting and it also reduced damage from salts as well as protects the rebar from rusting. Along with that it bonds the already deteriorated concrete. It helps to maintain the durability and endurance of the surface.

Stability – It increases the stability of the concrete surface. The bricks in pavers or tiled surfaces are joint by sand. The sealer helps to protect this sand from weed and other insect growth. It helps to keep the sand in its place, which would have flown away with the wind, or washed away with water. It also helps to bind the tiles and bricks together.

Appearance – Applying concrete sealer enhances the appearance of your concrete surface. There are a variety of sealers available to suit different needs. You can simply use the sealer to bring out the look of a good old concrete surface, or add sheen to a surface by staining it. You can preserve the beauty and enhance the hues of decorative surfaces using a sealer. You can opt from a variety of finishes, from natural to gloss to matt to get a shining surface, literally. But some finishes may cause the surface to become slippery when wet. Therefore you should anti-skid additives to the concrete sealer to keep its abrasion resistance.

Sealing your concrete surfaces is a sure shot way to increase the longevity of the surface. Unsealed surfaces wear out it half the time as compared to sealed surfaces. You may have to reseal every 1 to 3 years, but the costs of resealing are much lower that redoing the entire surface.

Water Washing – Water washing simply consists of using a garden hose connected to a tank or any water source. Along with that detergent and cleansing chemicals have to be used. As the water here is used at a low pressure (about 15 to 30 psi) it is also known as low pressure water washing. To remove stains, scrubbers, brooms or mops might have to be used. A concrete sealer would of helped here preventing stains from penetrating.

Pressure Washing – Pressure washing includes using water at a higher pressure in order to force the stains to dislodge from their place. It uses about half of the water compared to water washing, but uses high pressure. The pressure used is 1,450 psi for domestic pressure washer machines, and ranges from 2000 to 6000 psi for professional or factory pressure washers. A fan nozzle is generally used to cover wide areas, while a point nozzle maybe used to concentrate on small areas with specific dirt spots. Usually water is enough to remove stains, since the high pressure does the work, but sometimes mild detergents have to be used. Care must be taken since a concrete sealer can be stripped here if too much force is exerted.

Steam Washing – It uses the highest amount of pressure amongst all the three methods. The high temperature that can be used with steam washing helps to clean off algae, fungi and bacterial accumulation, and is fit for hotels, hospitals and cafeterias where food is frequently cooked, and the cleanliness level has to be constantly maintained. To clean concrete surfaces only with steam cleaning, can be a slow process however, and is generally used along with pressure washing. Chemicals that are recommended by the manufacturer can be used to remove contamination. However, the surface must be rinsed with clean water after steam washing has been done.

Out of the three methods, Pressure washing is the best. It saves you time, energy as well as resource. As stated above, it requires half the amount of water compared to water washing. Even steam washing is not enough, and has to be used in conjugation with pressure cleaning. With Pressure washing, you do not have to scrub off the stains; the pressure of the water itself is enough. If a concrete sealer was originally applied then most of the times, there is no need for detergent or cleansers.

Although, if you want to use cleansers, go through the owner’s manual and make sure that your machine can handle it. If you do not clean regularly, and therefore are not sure whether to buy a pressure washer or not, you can always rent one. If you are comfortable, you can go ahead and buy. Whether you buy or rent, do adequate research before selecting a particular machine. If you feel you can’t handle the washer or have any difficulties in concrete cleaning, you can always call professionals to do the cleaning for you.

The porous nature of concrete makes it highly difficult to render it completely clean without professional help. While you can do it yourself, hiring a professional service is also an option. The most preferred cleaning method for this task is the use of pressure washers. Pressure washers will save your money and effort and give you an excellent final output. Even though this method is the easiest option to opt for to clean your concrete driveways and sidewalks, there are certain fundamentals that you must know before you set out to use pressure washers on concrete and particularly driveway cleaning.

Doing it yourself

Concrete driveway cleaning on your own is not going to be an easy task but is possible. All you need is a pressure cleaner, the prescribed chemicals, protective gear and a water source. First assess the area of concrete you need to clean. A basic household pressure cleaner that you can buy from a local hardware store can clean 1 square foot area in a minute’s time. So if you have a standard 18’ x 30’ driveway, you will be spending a good 9 hours on cleaning it! Is this too much of a time investment? Definitely, it is!

However if you are up for a long weekend driveway cleanup plan, this is a good economical option. Post the cleaning, it takes 48 hours for the concrete to dry up completely. After the concrete is completely dry, a concrete sealer can be spread on the surface to keep the pathway intact. Over all, doing it yourself will be a time consuming affair.

Hire a professional concrete sealer service

Hiring a professional concrete sealer is the easiest option you can look at. Why? Professional services will be well equipped with the right tools and cleaning agents that will be required. It saves you the time of figuring out the things you need before you can prepare the surface. More importantly it saves you the effort.

As mentioned earlier, doing it your self would be a good 9 hours of work. Even with a professional service we are looking at not less than 5 hours of hard strenuous physical labor. Hiring a concrete sealer service in fact turns out to be cheaper as you will not be investing money on tools and equipment.

Concrete cleaning is a difficult job, no doubt about it. It you plan on having a concrete driveway or sidewalk, prepare yourself for some intense cleaning. Today, having concrete paths in pristine condition is a lot easier than before with the various services available to take care of them.

These five suggestions will aid in reinstating your concrete driveway, along with protecting it. Most individuals never pay any attention to the present area, however it’s the first half of any home you actually step foot on top of. Just follow the information above, and you’ll bring your driveway to its original appearance.

You ought to watch out for some guidelines when hiring an organisation for your piece of work. Keep in mind, it might look uncomplicated to try and do it yourself, but this is rarely the case. If you do not do the procedure appropriately, you may damage your exterior, vegetation as well as yourself. Case and point, the proper nozzles as well as chemicals are terribly important toward achieving the desired result. This requires years of acquired knowledge.

Concrete cleaning along with driveway cleaning is one approach to regenerating the design of the exterior of your home. This is achieved while not spending a lot of money in the process. By pressure cleaning a home’s outside you will create a friendly ambiance, and extend the concretes life. Maintaining a pleasant looking exterior can also increase the price of a home from five to ten percent! Pressure cleaning is considered the cheapest method to clean your homes surface, and the only manner to attempt it is via the use of a high pressure cleaner.

After pressure cleaning a home’s concrete it’s also suggested to seal it. A concrete sealer operates as a repellent and exists in natural or gloss to name a few. Applying a coat of sealant is worthwhile. Sealer can prevent dirt, oil, and grease from penetrating the inside of your concrete surface. As concrete is permeable in matter, it can be morphed by any kind of debris, but a concrete sealer will protect your surface. Also, if you want to protect your surface from humidity getting to the pores, a layer of sealer is just what you need. It will also defend against decorative concrete losing its colour. Even if your concrete was unprotected for several years from the elements, concrete cleaning and concrete sealer can enhance and lengthen its life. As a consequence, dissimilar to what many individuals assume, it does not create a slippery surface.

Pressure cleaning as well as sealing concrete is suggested approximately once every couple years. It will shield your surface, improve its appearance and increase its lifespan. It will additionally make it terribly simple for you to maintain it and clean yourself.