Should I Seal a Patio before Pointing?

Are your worried about the grouting stains at the time of pointing your patio, and hence want to seal it before pointing or there’s any other reason for which you want to seal your patio before pointing or grouting. This post might help you to know whether is it appropriate to seal the patio before pointing.

The usual way of doing patios is grouting comes first before sealing because the sealer doesn’t only going to benefit the pavers but also going to increase the lifespan of pointing or grouting but should you or can you even seal a patio before pointing?

If the pavers are not very porous and you’re using easy joint or dry mortar for pointing they don’t seal the patio before pointing, and if you’re the pavers that are very porous and you’re using flowpoint or grout for pointing then you should seal it.

Some grout the patio as soon as possible after laying, while some of them wait for a week. So there’s no exact time period for sealing as well as for grouting.

Usually, pointing is done prior to sealing after laying the patio and it’s not sealed before 2-3 months or even 6-9 months after it has been laid so obviously if you choose to do it way sealing is done after grouting however, some people do it the opposite way.

You won’t be able to find any definitive answer for should you seal before or after grouting the patio if you try to find it online, you’ll get mixed opinions from all over the place because there’re different reasons for which people grout the patio before sealing or seal the patio before grouting. Let’s take a look at them which may help you to decide whether should you seal your patio before or after pointing.

Easy Clean: Seal before Pointing

I’ve seen this reason numerous times while writing this post that you should seal the patio before you point because easier to clean grout colour or stains and whatever the excess grout is left after pointing. The sealer will not allow the pavers especially porous stones to absorb the grout.

Obviously, you should always seal the patio afterwards to protect it from sucking in other stuff like your food items or bird poop, and there’re thousands of other benefits of sealing a patio. But do you need to seal it prior to grouting or pointing just because it’s easier to clean the leftover grout? Not really, if the pavers are not porous like porcelain, for example, all you’re using to point is the mortar made with very less water.

If you want to seal the patio before pointing only to protect it from getting the pointing stains on it, I think it’s just not necessary. There’re other ways to deal with staining like using the products for pointing that doesn’t stain the patio.

You can watch the video below to see exactly how to create the dry mortar using less water and point in such a way that it doesn’t cause stains on the edges of the pavers.

You may have also heard of factory pre-sealed pavers that are sealed even before bringing on site.

If it’s Natural Stone: Don’t Seal before pointing

Natural stones such as limestone or sandstone are very porous so, it’s usually recommended to wait a couple of months to half-year for sealing the patio, while the pointing is done right away after laying the slabs as we have seen earlier.

Don’t seal natural stones before pointing because pointing is done right away after the slabs have been laid down or a week maximum, and there’s no chance to seal the natural stones even after a week after laying because of efflorescence.

Efflorescence is the travel of salts from the bottom to the top of the pavers. When you lay the natural stones on wet mortar, they suck in the water and other minerals from the mortar and are brought on the top of the surface. As that sucked water starts to evaporate, the minerals like white salt crystals can be seen on the patio which looks like white powder.

You shouldn’t seal the patio before until the mortar is dried completely because the mortar under the stones dries through the pores of the stones. If have to leave the patio to breath without sealing until all the efflorescence comes out from the patio otherwise you’ll trap it if you use the sealer before. If you seal the natural stones prior to laying or grouting, the efflorescence that came out after may also get sealed depending and can look like whitish staining on your patio.

There is also a type of sealer on the market called breathable sealers that you can use to seal the patio before or immediately after it has been laid, and it may allow the moisture and minerals to pass through the pavers but to be on the safer side, just don’t apply the sealer before pointing or even after pointing for a certain period of time.