Sealer with a wet effect for Paving Slab and Block Stone

Paving slab is the most popular coating for playgrounds, sidewalks, yards and garden paths. Performing the role of the finishing coating, the paving slab should meet the requirements of durability, that’s why it is important to extend its service life for as long as possible.

With time, paths near your house may start looking boring, so instead of a complete replacement, you can additionally treat the surface of the paving using paver sealer with a wet effect.

Why Coating Already Laid Slab?

Paver sealer has 2 goals: decorative and operational. If paths paving initially involves the use of a solid coating, then at the end of masonry works the paths are recommended to additionally coat for increasing their durability characteristics. Apart from that, sealer changes the paving color and gives its design an unusual effect.

As roads made of paving slab are exposed to the negative effects of the environment and bear large loads every day, their service life needs an extension. For that reason, protective compositions are used, the advantages of which include:

• Ease in taking care after
• Sealing seams
• Increased roughness, decreased slip
• Water- and dirt resistance effect
• Resistance to the effects of chemically active substances
• Protection from moisture and acute temperature changes

Apart from the mentioned above peculiarities, sealer helps to improve the look of the coating.

When using a sealer, the following problems are solved:

1. Elimination of moldiness and mossiness in tile-to-tile gaps and blind areas.
2. Decrease of tendency to soil easily and of sedimentation rate of dirt.
3. Elimination of problems with moisture accumulation in tile-to-tile gaps and their following erosion.
4. Increase of resistance to chemically active materials and salt.
5. Decrease of the coating destruction risk.
6. Saving financial funds for the repair of roads.

Treating paving slab with a special composition not only allows to prolong the service life of the coating but also gives it an aesthetically pleasing look. This method is also applied for the renovation of an old coating.

Ways of Paving Slab Protection

Preventive sealing of pavement coating prevents its rapid abrasion, protects from small mechanical damages. There are different types of means for the protection of paving stone and slab:

• They eliminate old dirt, such as grease, salt, and chemical deposits.
• Mold-resistance. They are used for treating tile-to-tile seams, paths jump joints and blind areas.
• Are applied directly before putting the road surfaces into operation.
• Special means for paving slab and block stone protection.

Sealers increase moisture resistance of coatings. The older the slab, block stone or stone is, the more often it will need treatment with protective composition.

Types of Sealers for Paving Slab

Sealer for paving slab with a wet effect gives the coating a rich color, emphasizing the texture of the material. Acrylic water-based and solvent-containing sealers are used for coating surfaces.

Water-based sealer is most often used for interior design, as it is non-toxic and doesn’t produce harmful emissions.

Solvent-containing sealer has harmful emissions and is toxic, but at the same time has high operational performance thanks to the chemical components in the composition. That’s why it is recommended to use for coating street pavement.

Main Advantages of Varnishes with a Wet Effect

Taking care of paving slab is no less important than taking care of house flooring, as timely treatment of pavement solves such problems as:

• Abrasion
• Wear resistance
• Moisture resistance
• Aesthetic look

Surface coated with sealer with a wet effect will serve longer, get additional matte gloss and will look moist in dry weather, which will make the pavement look unusual. In addition, paving slab with a wet effect will be safer in operation due to the anti-slip properties and will preserve natural shade of the material for longer.

Step-by-Step Guide for Coating Paving Slab

With a sealer, the surface of the slab gets covered with a sort of protective film, that’s why it is recommended to carefully prepare the surface for coating. All works can be divided into several stages:

1. The surface is cleared of garbage and dust. Any old dirt is also recommended to get cleared with the help of detergents, designed for pavements.
2. A hydrophobic composition that reminds transparent water-repellent film is applied on the completely dried surface. The number of treatments is as one wishes, but before applying the next layer, you have to make sure that the previous layer has fully dried. Otherwise, the layers won’t set as needed.
3. On this stage, the surface is coated with a finishing layer – a decorative one, usually with the help of special varnishes. Finishing coating will give the surface a look of a “wet stone”, that will enhance natural shades of paints that have become dull with time.

Sealer or Varnish for Paving Slab: What’s Better?

Both these types of surface coating have their own advantages and disadvantages. The sealer will become great protection for pavements, will prevent material’s destruction because of moisture negative impact of aggressive chemicals and precipitation.

Apart from that, sealer can penetrate deep into the paving slab, filling the pores and providing waterproofing layer. But it won’t protect from mechanical damages.

Varnish for stone is also used as water-repellent finishing coating, creating a wet effect. The disadvantage here is poor resistance to mechanical damages – over time, slabs get cracks, through which penetrates moisture, destructing the construction.

But the surface coated with varnish for paving slab gets a renewed appearance and looks effective. Speaking about price, coating block stones with even several layers of sealer is cheaper that coating the same surface with varnish.

Tips on Using Sealer

For the coating to be effective, it is necessary to stick to certain rules:

1. Before use, it is recommended to test the sealer on some unnoticeable area.
2. The surface-to-be-treated should first be prepared, including covering up cracks and splits. The freshly laid paving slab can be covered with finishing layer right away, skipping the stage of additional treatment.
3. Any sealer should be applied with a plentiful layer, trying to eliminate the formation of stains.
4. For the applied layer to dry faster, remove excess sealer from the treated surface. It can be done with a sponge by carefully soaking the surface.

For newly laid pavements, paving fragments can be treated with sealer with volumetric method: put the paving slab in the solution for a few seconds, then take it out and pave the marked area.