Seal Your Concrete
Sealing your concrete can help extend the life and keep it looking great. There are different types of concrete sealers available. Topical sealers can be applied to the surface of the concrete every few years in order to prevent staining and surface damage.
Sealing your concrete isn't really a labor-intensive, nor costly, job. By sealing your concrete every 2-5 years, as recommended by experts, you should keep your floor in good shape, preventing cracks, pitting, and additional damage.
Sealers, particularly solvent-based sealers, will darken concrete. If unevenly applied, it will create light areas where there is less sealer, and darker areas where there's more. If applied by sprayer, it may appear like “stripes”. Uneven roller application may leave darkened roller marks.
Discoloration in later life can result from atmospheric or organic coloring; the concrete is just dirty. This type of discoloration is usually removed by high-pressure washing with high-pressure water and, if necessary, chemical cleaning agents. The use of calcium chloride on concrete can discolor the surface.
While the advantages outweigh the negatives, there are some disadvantages that you should keep in mind before sealing your concrete driveway. Sealant can make the surface slippery. Sealants tend to dry down with a glossy or semi-glossy sheen that can be quite slick, especially when wet.
Concrete should be sealed to protect from mold and mildew.
When this moisture doesn't dry and the surface is left wet for an extended period of time, mildew begins to form and mold begins to grow. You'll know you have mold growing on your concrete by the greenish color that appears.
After discussing the factors you need to look for and the regional location of the project, in broad terms, Spring is in fact the best time of year to seal concrete. With its moderate temperatures and humidity levels, it tends to provide ideal conditions for the application and curing of sealers.
What is the smoothest concrete finish? The trowel finish is the most popular and smoothest concrete finish. After the concrete is laid, a trowel is used to smoothen out the fine-level concrete surface.
Diamond polishing is one of the most common methods used to get a shiny glass-like surface. It uses industrial diamonds to smooth, grind, and ultimately polish the surface. The grit you use determines the level of sheen you'll get on your floors. The finer the abrasive grit, the better.
Curing plays an important role in strength development and durability of concrete. This is done by continuously wetting the exposed surface thereby preventing the loss of moisture from it. If water evaporates too quickly, it will weaken the finished product with stresses and cracking.
The hardening, or curing, continues as long as moisture remains in the concrete. If too much water is lost from the concrete through evaporation, the hardening process slows down or ceases.
DO spray new concrete with water. One of the most common methods for curing concrete is to hose it down frequently with water—five to 10 times per day, or as often as you can—for the first seven days. Known as “moist curing,” this allows the moisture in the concrete to evaporate slowly.
In order to properly seal your concrete, then, you must clean the surface of the substrate before applying a concrete sealer of any variety. The easiest and most effective way to clean the concrete will vary depending on the condition of your concrete and whether it has been treated with chemical stains.
Can Sealing Prevent Cracks on Concrete Surfaces? Concrete sealing can stop most types of concrete fractures. This fact is especially true if the crack is a result of poor-quality work in the concrete mix or site preparation. However, sealing can prevent future damage that may start from the top layer of the concrete.
Left unsealed, the colors will fade, water marks may be an issue, and stains can penetrate leaving ugly oil spots where the service guy left his old jalopy parked on the driveway. It's pure and simple, the job just won't last without a good sealer.
Sealing concrete is not a requirement, but most experts will recommend it depending on the placement and environment. Flat surfaces benefit the most from concrete sealant since it dries evenly and seeps into the small crevices.
As we noted earlier, concrete sealers produce a very smooth surface on top of the concrete once it has fully cured, which gives your driveway valuable resistance to water, oil, and stains.
What are the causes of concrete discoloration? Concrete discoloration is a change of designated color due to calcium chloride in concrete, cement and additives, improper curing, environmental conditions, and faulty finishing works. What are the drawbacks of a high concentration acid solution on concrete?
But if the sealer isn't applied uniformly to begin with, or if not enough coats are used, the slab will appear blotchy upon drying. This is caused by the sealer filling in some of the valleys, but not all, and failing to remain on top of the hills.
One of the most common reasons for cement to have different colored areas during the curing process is that the cement was mixed differently in one batch versus another.