[Ant C]

hello everyone.

Can somebody help please.

I recently started cleaning & sealing block paving. I had to seal a driveway, kept an eye on the weather and supposed to be dry all day today with no signs of rain.

i got halfway using Thompsons one coat block sealer and we had a 2 minute burst of rain. I waited for it to dry out before finishing the 2nd half.

When finished I could see clearly where the join was between sealing the 2 halfs and the coat that was down when it rained had gone a bit milky coloured. The 2nd half looked fine an hour later but the first clearly has problems.

Does anyone know what the rain has done and how to rectify it.

Thanks.

Anthony

[Griffus]

Never had a need to do this but you should spray the dodgy area with Xylene, just a light spray should do the trick.

[Ant C]

Do I just spray xylene and leave it or do i need to recoat it?

[Blast Away]

Did our last sealing job of the year about 9 days ago. Won't be quoting any more if requested. They either want a price for clean or they take the chance with someone else willing to depend on a dry spell.

It's not a straight forward job rectifying the problem you have. Xylene as mentioned, you need to scrub in to the sealant to release the trapped moisture. Again needs to be done in dry weather and take into account you may need to add in more sand from the scrubbing you'll be doing.

I've been in your position, it can be sorted. May even be more straight forward as you've used a pi$$ poor excuse for a sealant.

[Ant C]

LOL on the sealant.

I've been using Adseal super - ordered 30 litres for 2 jobs. 1st job expected 20 max so 10 litres for this one. Ended up using 25 litres on first job. wanted to get them both done today because of weather being good and crap for next few days so used Thompsons as it was still in van from 2 months ago.

With regards to this problem. It was only a quick burst of rain. Not entirely sure yet if the rain has just diluted the sealer or if its really affected it.

What do you recommend I do to rectify.

Should I wait for another dry day and give it all another coat of Thompsons to see if that makes it uniform? Or spray dodgy area with xylene?

Any help appreciated.

Anthony

[mike roberts]

Blast away - 'fine weather sealer' - dont blame you mate... got one that needs cutting back next wk due to moisture - starting to question is it worth it

The rain doesnt dilute the sealer it reacts with it, as assume thompson crap is solvent based - How can you just substitute sealer doesnt custy not what you are using 
As has been said already need to work in xylene to remove moisture allowing sealer to reset. Got to be a dry day but not too hot (shouldnt be a problem now ) i would treat problem area first then respray whole drive with xylene so that it looks uniform. Dont just apply another coat of seal as this may just 'lock in' the problem

[mike roberts]

out of interest how big are these drives if your only using 30lts for 2

[amir66]

Try calling TOM WISEMAN 01491638593 of CCC LTD. Has a product called Soakaway will do the job and is much safer and cheaper than Xylin

[Blast Away]

Try calling TOM WISEMAN 01491638593 of CCC LTD. Has a product called Soakaway will do the job and is much safer and cheaper than Xylin

Tell us how much then...

[mike roberts]

Try calling TOM WISEMAN 01491638593 of CCC LTD. Has a product called Soakaway will do the job and is much safer and cheaper than Xylin

Called that guy - soakaway is a stripper - so hows that safer  it will remove the seal  ... once applied slurry should be vacuumed up  (and dispose of accordingly) area will need to be re pressure washed you then have to wait for it to dry and re seal!!
Its more expensive than xylene costs £30 for 5 litres we can buy 25 litres of xylene for around £80..

Hence far simpler to respray with xylene work in and allow to re cure as other guys have said - Why post unless you have all the facts!

[Ant C]

Thanks for replies.

Will be trying xylene on wednesday or thursday then leave and see what it does. if it cures problem then i'll give another coat of sealer later in day or following day.

Do i need to scrub the xylene in with long handled stiff brush or get on hands and knees?

or do i just spray it over and leave it to work?

Any help or procedures really appreciated.

I'm also starting to wonder if sealing is worth all the problems and added expense if anything goes wrong.

[mike roberts]

depends how bad it is ...how long is a piece of string
 work on small areas.. spray drive with xylene scrub either by hand or broom (with natural fibres - brushes plastic will melt) over time moisture disappears -sealer resets

This for normal acrylics assuming thompson is the same 
Not sure if ok to add additonal coat of thompson again norm acryls fine but this is sh***y thompson 

I think everyone probably q it at some time... reflect it in your costs .. allow for probs
Answered your q how about my previous q's 

[Blast Away]

Try calling TOM WISEMAN 01491638593 of CCC LTD. Has a product called Soakaway will do the job and is much safer and cheaper than Xylin

Called that guy - soakaway is a stripper - so hows that safer  it will remove the seal  ... once applied slurry should be vacuumed up  (and dispose of accordingly) area will need to be re pressure washed you then have to wait for it to dry and re seal!!
Its more expensive than xylene costs £30 for 5 litres we can buy 25 litres of xylene for around £80..

Hence far simpler to respray with xylene work in and allow to re cure as other guys have said - Why post unless you have all the facts!

Can get it cheaper than that. £40 I think it is now after rising recently. Lee Kenny can confirm, he bought some a few weeks ago from the same place.

[Kenny83]

Try calling TOM WISEMAN 01491638593 of CCC LTD. Has a product called Soakaway will do the job and is much safer and cheaper than Xylin

Called that guy - soakaway is a stripper - so hows that safer   it will remove the seal  ... once applied slurry should be vacuumed up  (and dispose of accordingly) area will need to be re pressure washed you then have to wait for it to dry and re seal!!
Its more expensive than xylene costs £30 for 5 litres we can buy 25 litres of xylene for around £80..

Hence far simpler to respray with xylene work in and allow to re cure as other guys have said - Why post unless you have all the facts!

Can get it cheaper than that. £40 I think it is now after rising recently. Lee Kenny can confirm, he bought some a few weeks ago from the same place.

^^^ no mate it's £70...  would you like me to get you some mike?? 
only joking, yes it's £40 lads

[mike roberts]

  interested where you get it from
only use it when we reseal or when it goes wrong...have around 50 ltrs at present will last a while
Is it virgin xylene ? as that effects price..

[Ant C]

Ok. Good news.

Went and done 2 small test areas.

Sprayed one area and scrubbed. Sprayed one area and just left neat, to see if any difference.

Went back 3 hours later and both looked exactly the same. Cloudyness had gone.

Sprayed whole driveway with xylene.

Returned next day and whole area was as it should be. No horrible areas.

Coated again with Thompsons, delivered some flyers then returned about 3 hours later.

All good - all uniform and looks good.


Mike - In answers to your questions.

1st driveway was approximately 5m x 4m
2nd driveway approximately 3m x 3m
I don't measure - just do it by eye - which is probably where i'm going wrong.

Customer doesn't know what specific sealer I would be using.

I'm still very new to this so learning from my mistakes at the moment.

What sealers do you people use?

I'm using Adseal super costing £70 for 20 litres. Is that good or bad?

What i'm realising is how much sealer is actually needed to do a job, and actually feel guilty when giving someone a quote to seal because I know they are not going to consider how much the stuff costs, just the huge amount it is going to cost them.

[Kev Martin]

Try calling TOM WISEMAN 01491638593 of CCC LTD. Has a product called Soakaway will do the job and is much safer and cheaper than Xylin

Called that guy - soakaway is a stripper - so hows that safer  it will remove the seal  ... once applied slurry should be vacuumed up  (and dispose of accordingly) area will need to be re pressure washed you then have to wait for it to dry and re seal!!
Its more expensive than xylene costs £30 for 5 litres we can buy 25 litres of xylene for around £80..

Hence far simpler to respray with xylene work in and allow to re cure as other guys have said - Why post unless you have all the facts!

Mike

Everyone thinks I am being harsh and rude to him.  The man is an idiot who doesn't think about anything knows only half the facts then posts advice and what frightens me most is someone may pay attention to him.

Kev Martin
Marble Life Ltd

[mike roberts]

Mike

Everyone thinks I am being harsh and rude to him.  The man is an idiot who doesn't think about anything knows only half the facts then posts advice and what frightens me most is someone may pay attention to him.

Kev Martin
Marble Life Ltd

you are harsh and rude

I guess he is not a friend of yours 

[drive surgeon]

packed in sealing years ago     i realise it was not worth the hassle. i earn more nor sealing anyway now. could not be assed with the hassle. had back logs of jobs to do with wet weather and custys asking wen it can be done. too much hassle. and i would not use anything other than resiblock 22. it soaks in so you dont have any probs with lines or shiny marks. we are a registered resiblock installer but we dont bother now.

[mike roberts]

must admit really starting to think the same  mainly seal pic jobs but got to be so carefull!
with block paving sell refurbs linked with maint programs weed kills find it makes regular custys with no comebacks