Dealing with excess Sealer - Always read the instructions

Sealers, learn how to use them properly and they are an added benefit to most paving jobs but get that wrong and you will be in a world of grief!

Fortunately, Azpects Ltd are not happy if their customers experience problems and see it as their moral duty to help find solutions to problems. Two recent applications of EASYSeal SSP and EASYSeal Ultimate ended in near disaster for the contractors for the simple fact that they didn't understand how to apply them and what the consequences would be for getting it wrong.

Both paved areas were laid with six side sawn Indian Sandstone, calibrated to 22mm. Both areas formed parts of very high calibre designed gardens which had both had extensive landscaping to very high standards. The final job on both was to seal the paving to protect its appearance and make it easier to maintain in the future. Unfortunately, on both occasions the contractors left excess sealer on the surface which dried to leave ‘tide marks’ which showed up terribly and spoilt the whole look of the garden.

An artist's impression of the Wizard

As you can imagine, both contractor and client weren't happy bunnies and the finger of blame swung round to the sealer supplier…Us! As previously mentioned we at Azpects don’t like fingers being pointed so we jumped straight on the phone and started to sort it out. Firstly we showed our Wizard the photos and the Wizard confirmed what we thought to be the problem. They then proceeded to mix up a magic potion for us and we trotted off to see the unhappy people. The first patio looked very sad but with a splash of the potion we soon saw that all was not lost and the excess sealer could be removed. We left the remaining potion and trotted away to have a cup of coffee-feeling very pleased with ourselves.

I visited the second site on my own, armed with more magic potion but upon arrival I found there were more than excess sealer problems. The reported ‘tide marks’ had virtually faded away and were difficult to see due to the very light sandstone sucking up dust and dirt and leaving what I call ‘shadow marks’ over some of the slabs. The big downfall with thin paving is that you can almost see through it and any voids under the paving will be very noticeable after a few weeks. (Especially if it’s kept wet due to rain or general watering) With this job I opted to leave the contractor with a bottle of EASY Patio & Deck cleaner. The concentrated formula will help remove any surplus sealer residue (as it’s only lightly built up) and the diluted product will help to clean the shadow marks and go on to help keep things cleaner for months to come.

What’s interesting is that out of these mishaps we get to learn new methods and the quality of the workmanship improves as you can’t get away with cutting corners without being caught out. That’s great news for consumers who pay a lot of hard earned money to get their dream gardens.


Personally I really enjoy the detective work involved in finding the causes of problems and I am in the fortunate position to be working for a great company who’s ethics are the same as mine. We don’t turn our backs on people and we endeavour to help to find solutions when things go wrong. It’s not a case of playing the blame game; it’s about being professional and sorting things out.

Jeff Carter
Customer Support Manager
Azpects Ltd

EASYSeal Ultimate Staining Performance Test

EASYSeal Ultimate, the clue is in the name. This is our best water based sealer for natural stone and concrete paving, see it in action now!

Here are the results from recent stain tests.
Tests carried out on Sandstone (section of the paving shown below)

Stage 1	Stage 2
Stage 3	Stage 4

Stage 1: The right hand side of the stone was treated with two coats of EASYSeal Ultimate and left to dry.
Stage 2: After a couple of weeks a variety of food solids and liquids were added and a photo taken minutes after they were applied.
Stage 3: About an hour later the food solids and liquids were mopped up with absorbent kitchen roll paper. You will notice that many of the substances have been absorbed into the stone on the untreated side.
Stage 4: The stone was then washed with ordinary washing up detergent and warm water. Both sides were
gently agitated with a nail brush and rinsed. The photo shows the stone dry. The treated surface is almost
completely clean whilst the untreated surface has been noticeably stained.

EASYSeal Ultimate currently comes in a 1 litre bottle of concentrate which can make up to 8 litres covering upto 48 metres squared of paving.

For more information on EASYSeal Ultimate 
visit: http://azpects.co.uk/products/easyseal-ultimate-sealant.aspx 
and for our full list of products visit: http://azpects.co.uk/products/

Applying EASYSeal in hot conditions

So our summer and the current heatwave are in full swing but you want to seal your paving?  Here are our top tips for using EASYSeal in hot weather:

Working as a pair whilst using EASYSeal SSP

In hot conditions sealers can, if you’re not careful, dry out on your paving very quickly and not get the chance to seal your paving properly.  You will need to be cautious in the type of heat we are currently experiencing.

At this time of year we would always recommend using our sealers in cooler conditions at the start or end of the day, to avoid a situation where the paving dries out too quickly. To help to mitigate this situation we would recommend having two people working at a time for speed of application and to ensure that the first coat doesn’t dry out before the second one is applied.

For our full product ranges visit our website: http://azpects.co.uk/