"Renew" - Stamped concrete sealer

December 2010 Job of the Month - Concrete is tough, very tough, but even concrete needs some TLC every once in a while. Here you can see some pictures of a Prosper, Tx project we did about four years ago. It was a stamped overlay into which we scored a Texas Star and applied a stamped concrete sealer to. No, that isn't a real snake in one of the pictures; our homeowners had just thrown some rubber snakes and spiders around their patio to dress it up. This concrete sealer is durable but after a few years exposure to the harsh Texas sun and elements, it just plain wore out. We normally recommend reapplying a stamped concrete sealer every two to three years to renew this protection. In this case it was pretty obvious that it needed to be done.

As we had applied the stamped overlay to this Prosper concrete patio a few years ago, the first step prior to reapplying the sealer is to power wash the entire slab so that there isn't any dirt or crud that could interfere with the sealer sticking to the floor. After cleaning we had to wait for the floor to dry completely. If there is any moisture on it before applying the stamped concrete sealer it can turn a hazy white color instead of remaining transparent.

We usually spray the sealer on because it creates a more consistent finish and it's much faster to apply though it can also be rolled. We always put down two coats to make sure everything gets sealed. Another advantage of solvent based stamped concrete sealers is that they dry very fast, and that really helps when it's cold outside like it was when we did this project. As you can see in these before and after pictures, resealing this Prosper stamped overlay project make it look just like new.