Peeling

ASCC's glossary describes exactly what to look for: "A defect in a dried film manifested by large pieces becoming detached from the under surface and coming loose in sheets or large flakes."

That sets peeling apart from a whitened film. Euclid Chemical, writing about concrete sealers, describes a sealer that has lost adhesion looking white first, from moisture and air trapped under it, and only in time peeling or flaking off. A milky film with nothing coming loose goes by a different word, blushing.

The separation underneath, before any piece lets go, is also a separate glossary entry: delamination.

In sealer makers' own lines, peeling rarely appears alone. Techniseal pairs it with whitening, for its own Paver Protectors: if too much Protector is applied too often, "the product will lose its microporosity, which could lead to the whitening and peeling of the film on the surface." That is Techniseal's statement about its own products, and it says could, not will.

Euclid Chemical pairs it with flaking at the end of a slow sequence, heavy coats trapping moisture until the sealer loses adhesion and "in time, the sealer will peel or flake off the surface." ASCC, writing about decorative concrete, pairs the same two words after a fast one, a solvent based sealer bubbling in hot weather or direct sun, "which in turn leads to peeling or flaking."

Why a paver sealer peels, and each route into it, is argued at why is my paver sealer peeling; the bubbling that comes first on the hot-weather route is covered at bubbling in a paver sealer.