LESLIE: Jeff in Missouri is on the line and needs some help with a patio project. What are you working on?
JEFF: I really already got it done but I failed to put a sealer on my patio. And I was wondering what I can do about that at this late date. It’s been poured about six months.
TOM: So why do you want to put a sealer on it?
JEFF: Because the leaves and the grass stain it.
TOM: You could clean it. You could use a trisodium-phosphate solution to scrub it and clean it and brighten it up again. But then you have to wait until it’s really dry, so doing this in the chilly weather is not a good idea. You want to make sure it’s super-dry and then you could add a concrete sealer on top of that.
The concrete sealers that you want to make sure you get are ones that are vapor-permeable and that means that the moisture moves in and out. You don’t want to completely seal the brick, because then what’ll happen is the moisture will still get in it but it’ll freeze and start to break apart or spall, as the technical term goes.
So if you get a good-quality concrete sealer and get it clean to start with, certainly you can reduce some of that staining going forward.
JEFF: Good. And what do you call it so it breathes in and out?
TOM: Vapor-permeable.
JEFF: I appreciate that. Thank you, you guys, for what you do.
TOM: Oh, you’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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