Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We had Unilock pavers installed about 2 years ago, and while we loved the style of our patio, some of the polymeric sand always seemed to wash out and made the pavers look dirty and hazy which was very frustrating. We were constantly trying to clean the pavers, only to have the same thing happen over and over again. We were to the point that we wished we had built a deck instead of the patio. So we decided to try sealing our pavers in the hope of keeping the polymeric sand in place better and keeping the haze and dirt from staining the pavers. We applied 2 coats of this sealer to our approx. 450 sq. ft. patio (so we covered about 900 sq. ft. total) and wound up with approx. 1 gallon left from the 5 gallon drum that we ordered. We are very pleased with the results! We sealed the patio about 3 weeks ago, and it looks clean and beautiful. We have had multiple heavy rains and the patio finally has been able to stay clean!! After 2 years of frustration, we now have a patio that we are able to enjoy. When I was looking for a sealer, I was a little confused in reading the reviews. Some people said they got a nice wet look and other folks complained that the finish wasn't shiny. After seeing the results on our pavers, I understand why people had different opinions on the finish. If you have a dense, smooth paver or surface, you will get a fairly glossy result. If your paver or surface is more rough or textured (like a sandstone finish), you will see a very light sheen (not a wet, glossy look). On our patio, the main pavers are Unilock Copthorne pavers which are very dense and more smooth, so those came out with more of a wet, glossy shine. Our patio is trimmed with Brussels block pavers which are more textured and resulted in a very light soft sheen - not a glossy look. So your final appearance will all depend on what type of surface you are starting with. Some tips - we applied the product with an inexpensive pump sprayer and then rolled it out with a roller on a pole. We probably spent about an hour and a half or 2 hours to do each individual coat on a 450 sq. ft patio (including getting the equipment ready). My husband sprayed, and I used the roller - great if you have 2 people. Sometimes the fluffy nap on the roller was lightly shredding off and sticking to the patio like fine strings of cotton candy. I thought it was the roller, but after switching the roller we had the same issue. We discovered that we either weren't applying enough sealer or we were trying to do too large an area and the sealer was drying too quickly and pulling nap off the roller. Once we applied a little more product and worked on a smaller area we did not have a problem. My husband would spray about a 6ft by 6ft area and would wait till I was almost done rolling before moving to the next area. That worked well for us - it was very windy the day we applied the product and I think it was drying very quickly. I found it was helpful to roll at about a 45 degree angle quickly and then I would finish with fast straight strokes before starting the next area. Rolling on the diagonal first before the straight strokes helped since our pavers were laid in a herringbone pattern. I would definitely recommend using a funnel if you are pouring the product into a sprayer. We did that the first day and were able to properly clean and reuse our sprayer. When we applied the second coat the next day, we decided to skip the funnel and poured directly into the sprayer. Everything was great until we tried to clean the sprayer and could not unscrew the top. We had gotten sealant on the threads of the sprayer and wound up having to throw the sprayer out. If we had used the funnel, I'm sure we would have been able to save the sprayer. We did not use any non-slip additives, and we feel that out patio is fine, although I would say it is slightly more slippery that the unsealed pavers. If we had an even smoother paver or we were applying this to a heavily used sidewalk, we might consider adding that additive. We followed all the application instructions and had no issues with any hazing or clouding on the pavers. Note that you need about 24 hours of dry weather before applying and then approximately another 24 dry hours afterwards to help ensure you get good lasting results. The hardest part of the project was waiting for the proper weather conditions since we were anxious to get started but there was too much possible rain in the forecast. We were patient, and were rewarded with great results! I attached a few pictures, and in one photo I added a couple of the original pavers so you can see the difference in the color and shine. The sealer definitely darkened the pavers, and I feel that they look a little more brown than their original color. I highly recommend this Foundation Armor sealer!