Solvent based concrete sealer over water based concrete sealer
by Colin
(Pittsburgh, PA)
Q. I just had a new sidewalk put in and it was sealed with a solvent concrete sealer, which darkened the color of the concrete. Since this sidewalk connects to my driveway, I wanted to try to darken my driveway a bit and used a water-based wet-look Quik-crete(sp?) concrete sealer on my driveway. It didn't darken it at all so now I would like to know if I could apply a solvent concrete sealer over the water-based sealer to try to darken it a bit. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
A. Applying a solvent based sealer over a water based sealer is usually a bad idea. The solvents can eat or soften the water based sealer ruining both coatings.
Water based sealers tend to have a lower gloss, or darkening effect, than solvent based sealers. You can try adding a couple more coats of the water based sealer in a small area to see if it will darken the concrete a bit more.
If you want to switch to a solvent based sealer you will have to chemically strip off the water based sealer and start over.
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