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Concrete Sealer Issue - Ugly Lines

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7.2K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  Canarywood1  
D
#1 ·
Hello,

We had the skirt of a driveway redone last year and it looks horrible. The contractor that helped said the dark lines you see in the picture below were from the sealant. He explained that the lines would fade as the sealant sets in. Here we are 1.5 years later and the lines are still prevalent and atrocious.

A couple months after the concrete was poured I noticed the lines were not fading. I called back to learn the number is disconnected. It looks like the concrete contractor went out of business. I can see why.

How can I fix this? Are the lines I see indeed a poor sealing job? Is there any way to strip the seal and reseal? Could I apply a pigmented sealant from sherwin-williams over (someone suggested this to me)?

Please help!!!!!
 
J
#4 ·
Looks like your contractor had a sprayer tip with a partially clogged orifice, resulting in an uneven spray pattern; had inconsistent sprayer pressure that varied the sealer delivery (created drips and sputters); and had an uneven application motion that resulted in overlaps and voids. This was probably due to inexperience, apathy, or the urgent need to get to the little brown bottles!:vs_cocktail:

Correcting or doctoring this mess may be possible—and it will be a PITA –AND you could make it look even worse! There are several ways to “remove” concrete sealer: mechanically, which consists of grinding, blasting or sanding the coating off the surface or chemically, using a chemical stripper to remove the coating—then reseal—correctly!

It would be nice to know if the sealer was solvent or water based. Did you notice what “brand” sealer the contractor used (any empty cans or photos of the application)?
 
D
#5 ·
mark sr said:
It looks like the sealer was applied unevenly. I assume he used a pump up garden sprayer - nothing wrong with that if used correctly. I'd be leery of using a pigmented concrete stain mainly because it will wear away over time and need to be recoated.
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I don't know if the sealer was solvent or water-based. I'm assuming it was solvent-based as it hasn't faded at all. Do you know of any resources that will help me fix the uneveness of the sealer? I called two concrete contractors and neither offered to help me. One contractor recommended covering it with a pigmented sealer myself. Any suggestions or any "first steps" I should take? What would you do if you were in this situation?
 
#8 ·
Most sealers penetrates the concrete, it's not just on the surface.

Therefore to get rid of it you need to remove the surface layer of the concrete.

Grinding will make it smooth, not good in an exterior application such as yours.

Perhaps media blast the surface and then re-seal would be an option.
 
S
#9 ·
know it looks like **** for now & its likely it'll look like that for some time more,,, if sealer lasted, we wouldn't reseal our decorative work annually. IF you diamond grind (even w/zec carborundum wheel) or sandblast w/whatever media (sand, corncobs, talc, glass beads, etc), it'll look much worse.
grinding won't make it smooth (define smooth) BUT it will change/remove broom finish & result in a different texture

i may be the only 1 here who does this work for a living
 
#14 ·
stadry said:
...i may be the only 1 here who does this work for a living
Click to expand...
Is doing something for a living a pre-requisite for posting here? I must have missed that.

stadry said:
...
grinding won't make it smooth (define smooth)
Click to expand...
Smooth in this case is smoother than the current "non ground" concrete surface.

and a question for you stadry? Why are you yelling?
 
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