Should I move my cars for paver sealing?

A sealed driveway asks something of a car three separate times, and the documents behind a sealing speak to each one.

• Before the spray: two sealer makers' data sheets say to cover vehicles against overspray.
• While it dries: ICPI keeps all traffic off the area until the sealer is completely dry.
• The first drive back: the product's own label sets the vehicle hours, and a car left on the driveway is parked in until they pass.

Anything on the pavers without wheels, from chairs to planters and mats, is a separate list, answered under moving patio furniture for paver sealing.

The instruction to cover a car is printed on two sealer makers' own data sheets.

Techniseal's data sheet for its Wet Look Protector (WL1-2) says: “Cover vegetation, vehicles and adjacent surfaces that are not to be treated.” SEK-Surebond's SB-1300 data sheet reads: “Cover/protect nearby landscape, vehicles, and buildings from overspray during application.” Seal 'n Lock's guide for its Super-Wet-Look gives the fallback for anything missed: “avoid overspray on adjacent surfaces, rinse any overspray with water.”

ICPI Tech Spec 5 widens the instruction to “all surfaces and vegetation around the area to be sealed,” and ties a sprayed application to calm wind, one of the conditions and faults after a sealer goes on.

ICPI's general line is “Prevent all traffic from entering the area until the sealer is completely dry, typically 24 hours.” Each maker then publishes a vehicle number for its own sealer, and the numbers differ.

Two of the three labels give vehicles a longer wait than feet; SEK-Surebond gives both the same 24 hours. The figure on the label of the product actually used is the one that governs a given driveway. The dry time that opens a surface to traffic and a sealer's full cure time are two different figures, each defined on its own.

The walk-or-drive question for sealed pavers in general is answered under why sealed pavers turn white, cloudy or slippery. The odor a sealing can leave near the house is taken up under what a paver sealing smells like.

Of the three products in the table, Seal 'n Lock's guide is the one that says how a car should move on its newly opened surface.

Seal 'n Lock's guide says: “To minimize tire marks, vehicles should not make sudden stops or tight turns.” The same guide says: “Always check for tackiness before foot and especially vehicle traffic.” Both lines are that maker's, for its own Super-Wet-Look.

Euclid Chemical's bulletin CP-22 explains tire marking on concrete sealed with a cure and seal product, a poured concrete coating rather than a paver sealer, as plasticizers that soften and leach out of tires heated by driving, then migrate into and discolor the coating. Marks on sealed pavers are answered under why tires leave marks on sealed pavers, and the term is defined at hot-tire pickup.