Driveway, Walkway and Concrete Sealing in Ottawa

What is driveway and concrete sealing?

Driveway and concrete sealing is the application of a protective treatment that resists water, road salt and de-icing chemicals soaking into the surface, which is what causes most of the cracking, flaking and surface loss on an Ottawa driveway. The treatment works on the way in, not on damage already done.

PROTEXA is a certified GoNano contractor and an Ottawa applicator of the GoNano line of protective nano coatings. We do not simply sell the product: we assess the surface at no charge, handle the prep, and apply the right treatment on site. Which treatment that is depends on what the driveway is made of, and the two are not interchangeable.

• Concrete, masonry and pavers. GoNano Concrete Saver. Transparent, and it protects the surface for up to 10 years.
• Asphalt paving. A GoNano asphalt treatment, a different product that works into the bitumen binder rather than sitting on top of it.

Both work by penetration rather than by building a film on top of the surface. The particles are 40 to 60 nanometers, small enough to penetrate the material instead of forming a layer on it.

Which surfaces does Concrete Saver go on?

GoNano Concrete Saver goes on concrete, brick and masonry, stucco, CMU, exposed aggregate and pavers, which on an Ottawa property means concrete driveways, patios, walkways, porches, garage floors, interlock pavers and patio stones. It is not an asphalt product and it must not come into direct contact with bitumen, so we treat asphalt driveways with a separate GoNano asphalt treatment instead.

Garage floors and parking areas are on that list because this is a product made for garages, parking garages, driveways, loading docks and public sidewalks.

We do not sell this as basement waterproofing. It will not inhibit water penetration through unsound or cracked surfaces, or through defective flashing, caulking or structural waterproofing, so a wet basement is a different job. If your surface is not on the list above, raise it at the assessment rather than assuming either way.

Asphalt driveways are a separate service and a separate product

We treat asphalt driveways with a GoNano asphalt treatment. It penetrates the bitumen binder rather than forming a film over the top, so the asphalt still breathes. Traditional sealers do the opposite: they lay a coating across the surface and seal everything in behind it. It is not a resurfacer, it does not change how the driveway looks, and it extends the life of the driveway.

We clean and prepare the driveway first, spray-apply the treatment, and the surface goes back into use. This is a different product from GoNano Concrete Saver, which is for concrete, masonry and pavers only, and the two are never swapped for one another.

What it will do for your driveway is assessed on site. Book the free on-site estimate and we will tell you what your driveway is actually a candidate for.

What does an Ottawa winter actually do to a driveway?

Ottawa driveways fail from the surface down, and the cause is almost always water that got in before it froze. Water expands as it turns to ice, so every drop sitting in a pore or a hairline crack becomes a small wedge pushing the surface apart from the inside.

What makes Ottawa hard on concrete is not the depth of the winter but the number of times the temperature crosses zero. From late autumn through the spring melt the surface freezes and thaws again and again, and each thaw lets in more water for the next freeze to work on. Road salt makes that worse twice over. Brine tracked off the road by tires and pushed up by the plough keeps the surface wet at temperatures where plain water would have stayed frozen, and the chloride itself attacks the cement paste holding the surface together. Spring melt is the worst stretch of the year: saturated concrete, salt residue still sitting on it, and daytime thaws over freezing nights.

What are spalling and scaling, and how do they start?

Spalling is when the top layer of concrete flakes, chips or pops off and leaves the aggregate underneath exposed. Scaling is the same failure at a shallower depth, a fine peeling of the very surface. Both start with water and salt getting into the surface and freezing there.

The order it usually goes in on an Ottawa driveway:

1. Dark patches that stay damp long after the rest of the surface has dried.
2. A chalky, dusty feel to the surface, and colour that has gone flat.
3. Fine flaking at the edges, along the garage apron, and wherever snow gets piled and salted.
4. Pitting, then exposed aggregate, then chunks lifting out.

A treatment applied at step one or two protects what is there. Applied at step four it is protecting a surface that has already gone. Sealing is preventative work and it is worth being blunt about that.

What does Concrete Saver do once it is on the surface?

Concrete Saver makes the surface hydrophobic and forms a chloride screen that dramatically reduces chloride ion ingress, which is the mechanism behind de-icing salt damage. It reflects UV rays to limit heat absorption, slow aging and prevent discoloration, and it increases abrasion resistance and reduces concrete dusting so the surface stays cleaner with less maintenance. Taken together it resists cracking, spalling and pitting, resists salt and freeze-thaw damage, and protects the surface for up to 10 years.

The limit is worth stating alongside all that. The coating resists the moisture intrusion that causes cracking and spalling. It does not seal cracks that are already there, and it will not inhibit water penetration through unsound or cracked surfaces.

On interlock, pavers are one of the surfaces Concrete Saver is made for, and it penetrates the stone rather than gluing a film across the top of the joints. Keeping joint sand where it belongs is a general benefit of sealing interlock, and we put it to you as trade experience rather than as a spec.

How does the job run, from first call to finished driveway?

There are three stages: a free on-site assessment, prep and any minor repairs, then the treatment itself. Nothing is quoted before someone has stood on the surface.

1. Free assessment. We inspect the surface at no charge to confirm its condition and what it is made of, and we give you pictures of how it looks right now. There is no obligation attached to it.
2. Prep and repair. If the surface qualifies, we handle any necessary minor repairs and clean it thoroughly. A treatment is only as good as what is underneath it, so this stage is not optional and it is the stage that varies most between one driveway and the next.
3. Treatment. Concrete Saver on concrete, masonry and pavers, or the GoNano asphalt treatment on asphalt paving, applied on site by our own team.

How long the surface has to stay clear before you can walk on it and then park on it depends on the surface, the size of the area and the weather that day. We tell you the actual window at the assessment rather than quoting an average that may not hold on your driveway.

What does the driveway look like after it is treated?

Concrete Saver is transparent and leaves the concrete's appearance completely natural. It dries to a natural flat finish that does not change surface appearance, and skid-resistance testing under ASTM E 303 returns the same rating treated as untreated, so a walkway is no more slippery after we have been there. The GoNano asphalt treatment likewise does not change how the driveway looks, because it penetrates the binder rather than coating the surface.

Neither is a resurfacer and neither is a colour coating. So they will not hide cracks, oil stains or previous repairs. What you should expect afterwards is a surface that behaves differently, not one that looks different: it is hydrophobic, and far less willing to take on moisture than it was.

When is the best time to seal a driveway in Ottawa?

The application window in Ottawa runs through the warm, dry part of the year, because like any exterior treatment this one needs a surface that is clean, dry and above freezing to go on and cure properly. That rules out most of the period from late autumn to early spring.

Within that window, two moments make the most sense for an Ottawa property:

• Late spring, once the winter salt has been washed off and any damage from the last freeze season is visible. You treat a surface you can actually see the condition of.
• Late summer into early autumn, so the driveway goes into the first freeze already protected rather than absorbing one more winter first.

We confirm the conditions on the day, because a surface that is damp, dirty or too cold will not take the treatment properly. Newly poured concrete is a separate case: it has to finish curing before anything goes over it. If your driveway was poured this season, say so when you book and we will confirm the timing.

How long does it last, and does it need reapplying?

Concrete Saver protects your concrete for up to 10 years, and certain conditions apply to that figure. One treatment delivers long-lasting protection rather than needing reapplication every few years the way many other sealers do.

How close a given driveway gets to ten depends on the condition it was in when we treated it, how much salt and plough traffic it takes, and whether water is allowed to sit on it through the freeze-thaw season.

Is there a warranty on driveway work?

The manufacturer's warranty applies to our NuRoof asphalt shingle roof treatments, not to driveway work. Whatever is in writing for your job is put in front of you before anything is applied.

The up to 10 years on concrete is a protection figure rather than a written term you can claim against, and the two are worth keeping apart when you are comparing quotes. Ask us at the assessment for whatever will be put in writing for your driveway, and read it before the crew is booked.

When sealing is not the right choice

Sealing is preventative, so if a driveway has already failed structurally a treatment is the wrong place to put the money. These are the cases where we will tell you to spend it elsewhere:

• Cracks that run through the full depth of the slab, or sections that have heaved or settled unevenly. That is a base or drainage problem underneath the concrete and a surface treatment does not touch it.
• Asphalt that has gone to a network of interconnected cracks, or that feels soft and crumbles underfoot. At that point the driveway is at the end of its service life.
• Concrete with aggregate exposed across large areas. The surface the treatment is meant to protect has already been lost, and a treatment cannot put it back.
• Concrete poured too recently to have finished curing.
• A surface that cannot be got properly clean and dry before application.

The assessment is free precisely so that this conversation costs you nothing. If the surface is past the point where a treatment helps, we say so rather than selling you a product that will not do anything.

What determines the price of driveway sealing?

We price a driveway after standing on it, because a driveway is not a fixed unit of work and a square-footage figure would be wrong more often than it was right. What actually moves the number:

• Total surface area, including any walkway, porch or patio you want done in the same visit.
• Surface type. Concrete, asphalt and interlock take different products and different amounts of prep and labour.
• Current condition. A five-year-old driveway with a clean surface is a different job from one with staining, moss in the joints or early scaling.
• Prep and minor repairs needed before anything can be applied.
• Access and layout. Slope, steps, tight side yards and anything that has to be masked or protected all add time.

The same logic applies on the roofing side of the business, which we have set out in detail in our guide to what determines the cost of a nano coating in Ottawa. For a real number on your own surface, book the free on-site estimate.

Where PROTEXA seals driveways and concrete

PROTEXA works across Ottawa, Kanata, Nepean, Barrhaven, Orleans, Gloucester and Stittsville. The assessment happens at the property, because a driveway cannot be priced from a satellite image.

The same nano coating approach covers asphalt shingle roofs through our Ottawa roof nano coating service and flat commercial roofs through elastomeric membrane roof treatment, so one visit can cover more than one surface.

Common questions about driveway sealing in Ottawa