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Protect Your Investment

Looking forward to spending time outside in your decorative outdoor space?  Don’t put off your annual concrete maintenance–you can protect your investment by sealing or resealing those spaces!

Read: Maintenance Tips for Stamped Concrete

Protect Your Investment

When decorative concrete is initially installed, the majority of contractors will use a sealant as a final step. Unfortunately, most homeowners do not realize that resealing their decorative concrete is needed on an annual basis.

Read more: Why You Should Seal Stamped Concrete

Protection Benefits

The protection benefits from concrete sealers are huge! By using a sealer, you can greatly reduce deterioration, extend overall life expectancy, preserve or enhance the beauty of your surfaces, and make surfaces easier to clean and maintain. Here are some basic concrete maintenance steps to complete:

  1. Rinse dirt/debris off stamped concrete surface with a garden hose or pressure washer.
  2. Apply a small amount of liquid dish soap to surface and scrub with a push broom.
  3. Rinse well with a garden hose or pressure washer until there is no sign of soapsuds.
  4. Dry surface completely by using a leaf blower or by waiting 24 hours to air dry. DO NOT APPLY SEALER TO A DAMP/WET SURFACE.
  5. Once the surface is completely dry, apply the sealer as follows:
    1. Apply sealer using a 1″ nap roller.
    2. Apply sealer in approximately 2′ x 4′ sections. This will ensure full coverage without missed spots.
    3. In general, sealer should be applied when air temperature is above 55 F. Best results will be obtained by applying sealer during cooler temperatures — fall and spring — or before 10 am and after 4 pm in summer months when surface temperatures should be under 90 F.
  6. A second coat can be applied after the first coat is tack free (not sticky to your touch).
  7. Your stamped concrete should be resealed every year (more or less depending on other variables such as weather, use/traffic, pets, etc.) to protect your investment. One 5-gallon pail of sealer will cover approximately 1,000 square feet.

At Blackwater Concrete, our goal is to provide personalized service and distinctive ideas, giving each client and project the full value of our collective experience and knowledge. That’s why we’ve developed a maintenance guide for you, our clients, so that your concrete will look as good as new years after installation.  Download the PDF here!