Removing Concrete Sealant

Removing concrete sealant that is wearing out, turning yellow or just plain old is one of the most disliked jobs that a person working with concrete has to do. Despite this fact, it has to be done in order to get some types of concrete surfaces ready to apply a new fresh coat of concrete sealant.

Concrete sealant can be removed in one of two ways, mechanically or chemically. The preferred method is to remove existing sealant chemically rather than mechanically because it is easier and cleaner.

Removing Concrete Sealant Mechanically

Removing concrete sealant the old fashioned, hard way is a lot of work and takes quite a bit of time. I’m sure that this way of doing it is what gave the process a bad name and is the reason why most concrete workers do not like it.

Mechanically removing concrete sealant involves sanding and grinding with specialized machinery. Oftentimes during the blasting or grinding process, the concrete underneath gets damaged and then has to be repaired again before the new layer of sealant can be applied.

Dirt, dust and the loud noises that go with using the machinery and tools that area required in order to get the sealant off in this way are not very pleasant either. After getting the sealant off, one would then have to clean up all this dust and dirt so that it does not interfere with the new application of sealer.

Sealer should not have any kind of foreign materials in it when it sets up. If dust should happen to get in it, depending upon the homeowner, it would have to be stripped off again and then the process would be repeated another time. You can quickly see that this way of removing the sealant is a huge hassle!

I feel bad for the concrete workers of the old day, the ones that had to go through this process before chemical removers existed. You can still remove concrete sealant this way if you’d like, but most professionals recommend doing it chemically.

Removing Concrete Sealant Chemically

Using chemicals to strip paint traces, various coating and sealant from concrete is the most common and recommended method of getting the job done quicker and still effectively.

If you are going to be using chemicals to remove concrete sealant, you should be familiar with the different types of chemicals that area available in the marketplace today. Not knowing anything about what kind of chemical sealant stripper you will be buying or using can lead to costly mistakes and a lot of wasted time.

The three different types of chemical concrete sealant removers are biochemical, caustic and finally, solvent-based. Biochemical strippers are environmentally friendly, the newest type of “green” removal solution. They are made from plant materials.

Caustic strippers are very acidic and eat through the sealant, thus removing it. They are considered an alkaline chemical. And last, but not least, is the solvent-based variety of sealant removal. They are made from a variety of hardcore chemicals that will only work while wet.

Make sure to read the instruction label before using any type of chemical strippers during the concrete sealant removal process in order to keep yourself and your environment safe.