Will sealing make my pavers darker?

ICPI's line for concrete pavers is careful about its own scope: most sealers change the appearance of the paver surface by darkening it and enhancing the surface color, and sealers improve appearance by intensifying the paver colors already present. Most is doing real work in that sentence; it is not every sealer, and it is not a fixed amount.

ICPI adds that this makes silanes and siloxanes “very suitable on exterior areas for resisting efflorescence when a glossy surface is not desired,” so the flat end of the table is a finish ICPI ties to efflorescence, not a sealer that leaves color untouched. Urethanes, the high-gloss family, sit at the opposite end.

Why the exact shade is hard to call before a whole driveway is sealed, and the test step the makers use to see it first, are covered under whether sealing changes the color of pavers.

Choosing between the darker gloss and a flatter finish is its own decision, weighed on the paver cleaning page under choosing a wet or natural paver finish, and sealers sold with a matte or natural look are named under matte paver sealer products. Whether darker pavers also run hotter underfoot is a separate question, taken up under whether a darker sealed pool deck runs hotter; no source on this page measures it.

ICPI's own phrase for the gloss end of the table is that some sealers “add a glossy sheen” or a wet look to the pavement, and the wet look has its own glossary entry. The acrylic and polyurethane rows above are the families ICPI describes with a gloss.

Whether a wet-look finish needs association approval, and why a sealed surface looks darker again when it is wet, are separate questions, answered under whether a wet-look sealer needs HOA approval and why sealed pavers look darker when wet.