So now you’ve got a nice clean driveway or patio you want to keep it clean for as long as possible. Using a sealer can definitely be a good option, they act as a hydrophobic surface which causes the water to bead and repel from the surface. The idea behind a sealer is to help keep the water flowing off a surface where there is pitch so the water doesn’t just sit causing green growth. However our opinion on the fact is sealers are not worth it. The good brand of sealers are very expensive to buy and then if not doing it yourself you will be paying someone labour on top of the material costs to apply the sealer. If not done correctly they can go wrong and trap moisture under the sealer resulting in a cloudy look. Along with this each time you get the surface cleaned for best results you will need to use a chemical stripping agent such as Xylene to strip the sealer from the surface which is not only yet another cost but also a fairly harmful chemical to use. Also if the surface that is being sealed does not have a good pitch to it even with a sealer water will still sit on the surface resulting in green growth, not on your patio or driveway but rather on top of the sealer.
In conclusion, sealers are a good idea for selective reasons and scenarios. If you have a steep pitched driveway then yes, they can be worth considering as they will repel the water down the drive along with this the sealer will help keep the sand between your block paved driveway from being washed out. Other than that, the only other situation that sealers are a good idea would be on the area of a patio where a BBQ will be used regularly as the sealer will be a good defense against grease and fat spitting from the BBQ which can be tedious to get out of certain porous surfaces such as sandstone.
