Cure time

SEK-Surebond's SB-1300 sheet gives two points: the surface dry to the touch by 60 minutes, assuming 65 to 85 F at 50 percent relative humidity, and the area open to foot and vehicle traffic in 24 hours, depending on site conditions. Seal 'n Lock's Super-Wet-Look guide spaces its points further apart: normally dry in sunny areas in approximately 1 hour, then may be open to foot traffic in 4 hours and to vehicles in 48, and it says tackiness should always be checked before traffic. Each stage is a separate checkpoint on the label, and dry to the touch is only the first of them.

ICPI describes curing as a chemical process rather than evaporation alone. Silanes and siloxanes link up and cure as a film inside the capillaries of the concrete; in a water based sealer, the particles bond with the concrete and with each other after the water evaporates, which ICPI says is typically slower than a solvent. ICPI adds that water based curing time varies with the temperature, wind conditions and humidity.

Seal 'n Lock's guide ties cure to two conditions for its Super-Wet-Look: if the temperature is going to drop below freezing, the sealer has to have time to cure first, and on pavers in standing water the sealer will not cure. How the cool nights in the Naples normals sit against a label's temperature limits is set out on sealing pavers in winter in Naples.

Dry time is the earlier idea: the wait before a sealer goes on, and the dry-to-the-touch point after it does. Traffic comes later, and ICPI's word for that end is completely dry: all traffic stays off until the sealer is completely dry, typically 24 hours. A maker's own pedestrian and vehicle downtimes for its protectors are set out under drying, traffic and re-coating on sealed pavers.

SEK-Surebond's TB.6 attaches a cure figure to the next step in the sequence: polymeric sand can go in once the sealer has properly cured for 24 to 48 hours. What a tacky surface means is taken up on sticky pavers after sealing, whether the cars need to leave on moving cars for paver sealing, and why the irrigation matters while a sealer dries and cures on sprinklers running at night during sealing. The weather and traffic conditions ICPI attaches to the day itself are under the conditions after a sealer goes on.