Can You Paint Block Paving?

Block pavers can fade over time because of many reasons like UV rays, weathering, foot and vehicular traffic, regular use of cleaning products and pressure washing. Most of the time the block paving isn’t even sealed hence, the discolouration can be even worse if you don’t seal the paving from time to time.

Colouring your existing block paving that has been down there for years may seem a pretty fantastic idea to give the pavers a completely new look instead of ripping them all out and installing a new paver in place of each existing paver which involves a lot more time and especially the cost.

In your imagination, you may think that you could paint a block paving with the paint colour of your choice and as you want, like you paint other things with paint and brush. But the question is, how possible is this in reality, whether it’ll last any long or will it look any good. The answer to all of these is No!

However, I feel very happy to say that there is a great product out there (not a paint!) on the market, especially for this reason that not only restores the colour of the paver and brings them back to a new life but because of the whole process of how it needs to be applied, it also ends up protecting the paving from staining, stops stand from washing out, and prevent weed growth.

Check this product out here, which I’m talking about and will keep talking about in the rest of the post.

Coloured Sealers for Block Paving

Can I paint my block paving? Coloured sealer is the answer! A coloured sealer is a uniquely formulated product used to restore or change the colour of your existing block paving.

Unlike the normal paint which will sit on the top of block pavers and will easily chip off over time, block paving-coloured sealers on the other hand are made to go deep inside the pores of the pavers like any other sealer for porous surfaces. Hence, you end up colouring your block paving that’s going to stay for a quite long time as well as protecting it.

I’ve found this UK-based brand called SmartSeal with specialist cleaning and high-end sealing products. They’ve some great coloured sealers (what we need!) for block pavings called ‘Block Magic’. My initial answer to the question “Can you paint block pavers?” was no but after seeing their products, reading about them, watching the transformation videos, reading stories, and actually seeing how it brings back the colour, I felt that it is completely possible.

What do you really need? Clear Sealer or Coloured Sealer

We’d suggest to use the “Block Magic” if the colour of the blocks is really faded, even when wet. If they look fine when they’re wet, then that’s when you would use clear sealer as it will give the same appearance.

SmartSeal

If you’ve felt the need for restoring the colour of your block paving, one thing to consider before buying the sealer is to decide whether you require a coloured sealer for your block paving or if the clear sealer is sufficient enough. I mean if your block paving doesn’t have any other problem except a little fade in the original colour of your pavers and if you don’t want to change the original colour of the pavers, you simply need a clear sealer.

The clear sealer will darken the original colour of the pavers as they look when wet. Using clear sealer, the original paver surface is still going to be visible so, make sure the only problem with your block paving is that it has faded and just needs some colour enhancement.

If the block pavers are charcoal in colour, for example, even sealing with a clear sealer can make a great difference because they go really dark when sealed.

In this case, you don’t need any coloured or special sealer. You could use a good normal sealer on the market that says colour enhancer or colour restorer or something similar on it.

Else, SmartSeal also has its own clear sealer which I highly recommend if you don’t have any idea which other sealer to go with because it’s the best one out there and you’ll be totally satisfied with it. So again, if you like the original colour of your pavers but it has been slightly faded and want to make it dark again, this clear sealer here from SmartSeal is what you need.

However, if you want to completely change the original colour of your pavers or the pavers have completely lost their original colour then sealing with a clear isn’t going to do much. In this case, you’ll require a coloured sealer because there’s no colour left on the pavers to enhance.

As said, these SmartSeal coloured sealers also make it possible to change the block paving in a different colour. For example, red pavers can be changed to black, grey, dark grey or tan by using that particular colour sealer or can be kept red (if you don’t want to change the original colour but bring back the similar colour that pavers have almost lost) by using the red sealer as SmatSeal has these five different colour options in their Block Magic coloured sealer lineup.

Also, these coloured sealers are available in various different sizes. They also have samples of 150ml that you can try out before or even if you order the whole quantity required for the size of your driveway/paving, you won’t regret it as it’s the best thing available to make pavers look new again at a fraction of the cost.

See the colours, quantity options available and the current price of it here on Amazon.

If you want a professional to enquire first about the job, plan a site visit, see how much will it cost for your particular area and do the hassle for you, at the end of this post there is a form which you can fill up.

Block Magic coloured sealer is easy to apply as any other sealer

Smartseal recommends using a clear sealer after applying coloured sealer on the block paving for many reasons. It protects the coloured sealer itself to last longer. SmartSeal has clear sealers in silk and matt finishes so, it depends on you how you would like to see your finished paving whether silk (a bit shiny) or matt (semi-dry or damp) finish once it’s complete and dry.

Each litre of coloured sealer covers around 3 square meters. Hence, each bucket of Block Magic coloured sealer (25L) should cover between 70 and 80 m2 of block paving.

Kiln-dried sand is brushed into the joints after applying coloured sealer to prevent getting the colour on the sand. While the clear sealer is applied after the sand has been brushed into the joints of the pavers to seal the sand and make the paving more steady overall.

I’ve seen people recommending and using masonry paint on block paving but I’ll never ever do that if I have such a fantastic option like coloured sealers for my block paving. There’re some other products on the market with names like block paver dye or block paver restorer but the Block Magic coloured sealer seems much more trustful and superior amongst all which is formulated especially for block paving.

With such a product, you can restore your old block paving looking surprisingly new at an extremely low cost so, why is it not worth giving it a try? SmartSeal has samples for each coloured sealer in 150ml bottles to try and test out on a small area which can be ordered on their website.

The coloured sealer that restores the colour of your block paving cannot be sprayed. You need to use a roller for it to ensure you get a nice coat of colour and a brush on the difficult spots where it’s hard to get the roller on. Also, the coloured sealer is thicker so it’s difficult to get out of a sprayer. However, the clear sealer needs to be applied after the coloured sealer can be sprayed or applied with a roller.