Failing Stamped Concrete Advice

Reider

Reider

New member
I have a house wash customer that would like their stamped concrete patio/walkway washed and sealed. The customer has been in the house for 1-year, and they think the patio was installed at least 6-years ago. As you can see from the pictures, the finish is chipping/cracking off at numerous spots on the patio and walkway.

What do you think is causing this? Is there a remedy? The customer wants to know if I can put a tinted sealer on it, but I don't want to do something that will not last or cost them more money in the long run.

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Walk away from this one, Jason ........ OR ........

The failing of exterior acrylic sealers on concrete is very common. Moisture intrusion through processes such as water wicking, osmosis, hydraulic and hydrokinetic pressures cause sealers to delaminate, turn chalky, bubble and peel. Lots of problems!

Here's your remedy:

The only way to remove this sealer and get all of the sealer out from the joints is to use a paint stripper and then recovery surface clean it. You'll most likely have to do it 2-3 times to get all of the sealer up. This process is tedious and time consuming but is the most gentle on the surface. Bead blasting, grinding, shot blasting won't work here because of the different elevations on the stamped surface.

So, after this is done I would personally stay away from sealing it with any topical sealer. This includes acrylics, poly's and epoxies. I would only go with a penetrating sealer. Tints can be added to these if they want a darker color. Penetrating sealers will aid in maintenance and not cause you problems. Remember though, if anything should go wrong with it you are married to this job.

Good luck....
 
Here is the information I received from a local stamped concrete contractor that put my patio and my neighbor's in a few years ago:

[FONT=&quot]There are a lot of these types of issues going around, primarily because of the sealers that are used. A lot of people use different sealers or whatever they can find as the cheaper version of what they had existing. The problem with that is they have chemical reactions with each other. With that being said, some of the reactions are that it eats the sealer as well as the top layer of color.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]What we have been suggesting is going to Lowes or Home Depot or Sherwin Williams and buying Xylene. This is essentially a stripping agent. You want to roll this onto the surface a few days in a row to remove the sealer, which will take a few coats. Then you will have two options...We can come in and rub some color onto those areas or do a process called EZ tique or antiquing where we add color back to the surface. If the customer takes care of the xylene part we can then come in and do this process and reseal the patio area for $2 per square foot. They will then want to make sure they continue to use the same sealer every 3 to 4 years.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There is another option. The above option will blend things for them but may not remove it entirely. The other option is to have the entire patio sandblasted. It's messy and horrible but it will get you down to a new surface, still keeping the stamp imprint but removing the stop color. (That's if the person who did the work did integral color for the base color, meaning the entire 4" of concrete should be whatever base color they chose) Then we could come in and do the EZ tique process and reseal it. That process is going to give you an overall consistent look throughout the entire patio and a whole new look entirely depending on what they choose for a final color. I know the sandblaster to call, he's the only one in our area with a mobile unit and they need to be sure to what's called "black powder" sandblasting if they go this route, which will only remove that very fine top layer needed.[/FONT]

I have given all of the information I learned from Craig, David and the local concrete contractor to the customer so they can get the best picture of their options. The customer was very appreciative and blown away that someone actually took the time to find out information for them. This allowed me to at least gain a house wash and some other concrete work for them. Thanks again gentlemen!
 
Reider said:
. The customer was very appreciative and blown away that someone actually took the time to find out information for them. This allowed me to at least gain a house wash and some other concrete work for them.
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It's about the personal touch like that... my guess is you have a customer for life Jason... GREAT JOB!
 
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