Does paver sealing smell?

One manufacturer, two carriers, two odor lines, and the same outdoor ventilation instruction on both sheets. The milder product is not described as free of odor or of an inhalation warning. So whether a paver sealing smells, and how strongly, is printed on the sheet for the product being applied, not settled by the word sealer.

ICPI Tech Spec 5 writes its safety paragraph around the carrier. The fire and fume warning sits on the solvent side: ICPI says many solvent based products are combustible and give off hazardous fumes, so flame and sparks are to be prevented where the sealer goes down, and the same paragraph rules solvent based sealers out of confined or poorly ventilated spaces. On VOCs, ICPI says most water based sealers comply with the restrictions, and some solvent based products may too.

The same document asks persons applying sealers and joint sand stabilizers to wear breathing and eye protection as the manufacturer recommends, and, for many sealers, especially those with high VOCs, protective clothing and a mask to protect the lungs and eyes. That is ICPI's instruction to applicators, and the manufacturer's recommendation is the one it points to.

Carrier and finish are separate choices. SEK-Surebond's data sheet calls SB-9000 a solvent-based acrylic sealer, and what an acrylic is is defined under acrylic; the two families a paver sealer comes in, film-forming and penetrating, are set out under what a sealer does and the two families it comes in.

Techniseal's solvent-based Wet Look Protector (WL1-2) label reads, in part: "Do not smoke. Do not swallow. Do not get in eyes. Do not get on skin or clothing. Use only in a well-ventilated area." It also says to keep the product away from flames and any object that sparks, and lists its contents as acetone, solvent naphtha and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene.

On the water-based side, each line belongs to its maker and its product. Techniseal says its "NATURAL LOOK (NS) Protector does not release unpleasant fumes." Seal 'n Lock, a Florida sealer maker, lists "Minimal toxic odor" among the advantages of its water-based Super-Wet-Look. SEK-Surebond's SB-1300 data sheet still says to use it in a well ventilated area. Mild, no unpleasant fumes, minimal: those are three makers' words for three products, not one rule for every water-based sealer.

Nothing above is a rule for sealing in general. Whether a particular job smells comes down to which product goes down, and that product's safety data sheet and label are where its odor, hazard statements and ventilation instruction are printed. A health question about breathing a product is for that sheet and a physician, not for this page.

ICPI's confined areas line is also why sealing under a covered lanai is its own question, answered under whether pavers under a lanai can be sealed. How deep a solvent or water based sealer goes, and how it cures, is under what the sealer carrier changes. And what comes off the surface before a sealer goes down is under whether cars need moving for paver sealing and whether patio furniture needs moving for paver sealing.