Sealing a concrete driveway with a quality sealer can bring out the best in your home’s exterior. The use of a sealer preserves the driveway’s appearance and prolongs its life, ensuring it remains a valuable part of your property. A well-maintained driveway reflects the homeowner’s care and attention to detail, providing a positive first impression.
A sealer acts as a protective layer, guarding the concrete against weather, stains, and wear. Sealing a concrete driveway prevents water penetration, reduces freeze-thaw damage, and resists oil and other stains. Despite these benefits, the process can be costly and may require regular reapplication to maintain its effectiveness.
In the following sections, we’ll delve deeper into the advantages and disadvantages of sealing a concrete driveway.
KEY Takeaways
- Understanding Concrete Sealer: A protective layer, a concrete sealer extends your driveway’s life by shielding it from potential damage and wear.
- Benefits of Sealing: Beyond aesthetics, sealing your driveway offers protection from harsh weather, simplifies cleaning, and aids in maintenance.
- Potential Drawbacks: It’s worth noting that sealing involves costs and necessitates regular attention to ensure your driveway remains in pristine condition.
Different types of sealers
Before we go into the pros and cons of sealing concrete driveway, let’s look at the different types of sealers commonly available in the market.
Acrylic resin-based
These are considered to be a better value to performance sealers. It lays down an acrylic resin that can be blended with epoxy to further strengthen and increase the longevity of the product. Be sure to understand the different types of acrylics before mixing them with other epoxies.
Styrene acrylic is said to be the lowest quality acrylic as it stains upon direct sunlight. Virgin acrylic resin is a great product and of much higher quality than styrene. It lasts longer too and does not leave any yellow stains on the concrete upon heat.
Epoxy sealers
These sealers have been quite popular with epoxy making it viral over the internet. Many YouTubers or DIY-ers have been seen using epoxy to make cool coffee tables, designs, and more. Epoxy is expensive when compared to acrylics, however is not as good as acrylics in terms of performance. It leaves a white layer between the epoxy and concrete (which apparently has become a design trend with coffee tables). This is because epoxy does not allow the concrete to breathe, restricting moisture.
Penetrating sealers
Made from specialty resins, penetrating silicon is also a great substitute for acrylic as it prevents the concrete from staining. This is due to the chemical barrier produced by penetrating sealers that prevent contaminants to enter the concrete. It is a great choice for using it on a driveway or in a closed space like a garage.
Gloss levels
If you’re looking to have a gloss to a high-gloss surface on your concrete driveway, get solvent-based sealers. These have a gloss level of 80 to 100. Water-based sealers are known to have gloss levels of 50 to 80 on the gloss scale.
This can lead to a matte finish on the surface or even a semi-gloss surface depending on the level of gloss. If you’re looking for a no-gloss surface then get a sealer-like penetrating sealer that is widely known to have a gloss rating of 0.
Pros and Cons of sealing concrete driveway: Advantages
In this section of pros and cons of sealing concrete driveway, we will discuss some of the advantages of concrete sealers and why people prefer to use them.
Aesthetic improvement
Concrete is known to be very dull looking with its grey colors. This can be boring and not represent your personality the way you would want to display it. Have a very fine and elegant look by using concrete sealer to give it a bit of a gloss, or more depending on your liking.
Another reason to use concrete driveways would be to give it a new look. You may have your concrete driveway existing for 10 years without any repair or maintenance work on it. This would definitely give a very unappealing look to the front of your house. Applying concrete sealer to it can make the concrete look brand new.
Great DIY project
Yes, many of us believe that we are great DIY people. However, most of the time, that is not the case. Many times we find ourselves giving up on a DIY project that we started a few days back. Remember all the gardening supplies you bought before to renovate your garden but haven’t had the energy to see the project through? Well, applying a concrete sealer is the easiest DIY project you can embark upon.
You don’t require a professional but simply knowledge on how to apply. After going through the pros and cons of sealing concrete driveway, we will guide you on how to apply a sealer.
Stain-resistance
This is a great advantage of using concrete sealers. Like mentioned before, concrete can leave stains when it has direct sunlight hitting it. Many concrete goes haze white or even discoloration to the extent of yellow. To prevent such discoloration, use concrete sealers.
Protection from the environment
A concrete driveway is exposed to sunlight, rain and moisture. This can definitely affect the driveway and in most cases damage it. Heat expands and contracts concrete which can lead to cracks while rain can erode through those cracks. It is always advised to protect your concrete and improve its durability by adding a layer of concrete sealer to it.
Increases longevity
As mentioned before, sealers are known to increase the longevity of concrete pavements or any other concrete layers. This is due to the sealer’s chemical properties that ensure the concrete is safe from all sorts of harsh environments. So, whether you’re in a cold country or hot, sealers will help improve the longevity of your concrete pavements.
Easy to maintain
If you have a concrete driveway and never maintained it before, cleaning it can take a lot of time. With concrete sealers, the cleaning time is slashed in half making it very easy to clean and maintain.
Pros and Cons of Sealing Concrete Driveway: Disadvantages Advantages
Let’s come to the disadvantages of the pros and cons of sealing concrete driveway sections.
Slippery surface
Many home-owners might feel that the surface is too slippery upon applying a concrete sealer. Yes, this is a concern as the layer is an added shine to concrete and would definitely cause slippage. It is recommended that you get a sealer with polymer grit in it. These types of sealers are better for your driveway.
Chemicals
Like any other home improvement or renovation materials, concrete sealers also contain chemicals. These types of chemicals are harmful to humans and pets around upon inhaling or being exposed to them. Since there are a lot of concrete sealers, it is better to check the ingredients first and see which one is a safer option for you and your home.
Maintenance
Sadly, yes. With all the DIY projects, you need to maintain it. The same goes for your concrete sealer application. Driveways are always exposed to the harsh environment and therefore the seal can disappear quicker than anticipated. It is recommended that you apply the sealers once every 2 to 5 years depending on the wear and tear of the driveway.
Expensive
Concrete sealers are considered to be expensive. Don’t get us wrong though, there are many cheaper sealers on the market but the quality of those sealers is worth staying away from. Cheap sealers have harsh chemicals that are toxic to you and the environment and need to be avoided at all costs. However, investing in better quality concrete sealers will cost you good money. Title loans can often cover these costs and help fund your DIY project.
Cannot be applied immediately
Well, this point has its clauses. You can apply concrete immediately to your driveway upon purchase but you cannot apply concrete sealers on fresh concrete. Fresh concrete takes a while to dry but even upon drying, you need to give the concrete at least a month to settle before you can apply a concrete sealer.
You can also read a blog about How To Clean A Driveway. Just click this link.
DIY Concrete sealers
Now that we’ve discussed some of the pros and cons of sealing concrete driveway, let’s look at how to apply concrete sealers and how to perform maintenance work every now and then.
How to apply
Before applying a concrete sealer to your driveway, proper preparation and safety measures are crucial. This guide outlines the essential steps and precautions to ensure a successful and safe process.
- Check Driveway for Patch Work: Before anything else, inspect your driveway for any required patch work, especially if it’s old. Patch any areas as needed and allow at least a month for new concrete to settle before sealing.
- Wait Period for Fresh Concrete: Remember, fresh concrete must cure for a minimum of one month before applying any sealer.
- Clean the Driveway: Ensure your driveway is free of dirt, grit, and debris. You can use soap or a degreaser agent for cleaning. After washing, wait until the driveway is completely dry.
- Safety Precautions: Sealers contain harmful chemicals, so it’s crucial to wear protective gear. Cover your arms, legs, eyes, and any exposed skin. Also, read the sealer’s instructions for any additional safety measures.
- Choose Appropriate Sealer Application Tool: Depending on whether you have a water-based or solvent-based sealer, you will need either a roller or a sprayer for application.
- Calculate Required Sealer Quantity: A gallon of concrete sealer covers approximately 250 to 300 square feet. Ensure you have enough for two to three coats.
- Allow Sufficient Drying Time Between Coats: Wait for each coat to dry completely before applying the next. This prevents uneven coverage and ensures a smoother finish.
- Coating Method and Drying Time: Work in small sections, around 25 square feet at a time, for best results. Allow 2 hours of drying time between coats or longer in humid conditions.
- Test for Dryness: Check the surface’s dryness by touching it with gloved hands. If there’s no stickiness, you can proceed. If it feels sticky, allow more time to dry.
- Apply Additional Coats as Needed: Once the surface is dry, apply additional layers of sealer, ensuring ample drying time between each coat.
Maintenance of concrete driveway
Now that you’ve completed your DIY project, make sure to give it time every now and then. Any project taken up and left abandoned without any maintenance can increase the wear and tear on it. During your maintenance routine, if you start to notice any areas on the concrete driveway showing sights of being worn out, you can always add a light re-application of the concrete sealer.