“The concrete driveway appears to be functioning normally. I’ve owned it for three years and everything is maintaining Its integrity. I’m going to pass on further treatment at this time.”

Typical response when you asked if they have sealed their concrete driveway.

I hear this response very often, this is like saying my car runs fine and it looks good, so I am not changing the oil (maintenance) until I see or hear a problem. Just because concrete is hard, and the surface looks good it does not mean that it does not need maintenance.

Concrete degrades over time and when it starts to show problems it is too late to try to save it from further damage because the damage starts from inside to the outside.

What a sealing treatment does for concrete is to prevent or mitigate the damage inside by reducing the expansion and compression from cold, snow, and extreme heat. All these changes stretch and compress that concrete and it slowly starts to develop microscopic fractures that eventually reach the surface and then you see the scaling, cracks, or pitting.

If you live in a zone where the weather gets cold and snowy your concrete is subject to freeze thaw problems. If you live in an area where it gets extremely hot the concrete expands and compresses every time the heat changes level. You can see that effect when you drive down the highway and the car feel like you are driving over a bumpy road.

What sealing the concrete does:

• 1.Keep the surface of the concrete clean.
• 2.Prevent water penetration into the concrete.
• 3.Mitigate the damaging effects of using snow or ice melters.
• 4.Maintain the concrete in a constant state level of humidity when hot or cold to prevent compression and expansion.

It is a lot cheaper to seal the concrete today when it is new or old before you start seeing the problems. A penetrating sealer treatment is about $0.25 per square feet, a driveway removal and replacement if about $10.00 per square feet.

Protect your investment, replacing the concrete is not cheap.