Experience with resiblock superior matt - To seal or not seal

[Andyb01]

Recently lifted and re-laid a fair bit of block paving (around 80m2) with help from the regulars on this site (thank you for all your advice and assistance).

I had to mix in some new pavers with it to have enough material for the new patio. Laid it in May and deliberated long and hard about whether to seal it or not. The old paving had been down for ten years and problems with weeds, moss, algae and ants have been the bane of my life so decided to go for it and seal using Resiblock superior matt (got it off eBay from the Resiblock trade shop).

Paving had been down for a few months so having finally got a few days clear weather, went for it this week. It has darkened the blocks as expected (no bad thing) and the old blocks were slightly less absorbent than the new but overall I'm pretty pleased with the result (so far so good anyway). Risk of efflorescence should be well past by now. It is not a great job to do (gloves and mask required) but applied with a long handled large roller it went on easily, did not pick up the jointing sand (I cleaned all the joints, re-sanded and hand swept the whole area before applying the sealant) and the coverage was better than expected (used 15L less than estimated).

Obviously it's horses for courses and sealant isn't right for everyone but Resiblock does seem to attract a fair bit of bad press (presumably because once it's on you're stuck with it) so I thought I would post what seems to be a good result for a change (touch wood). Certainly good enough for a DiYer like me

Didn't go for the wet look stuff though - a bit too 'Disneyland' for my taste. :;):

Andy

[Tony McC]

I really appreciate your positive comments, Andy. You're right in saying that we only ever seem to hear about products when they go wrong, and with Resiblock, rightly or wrongly, being perceived as the top sealant for CBPs, they do attract more criticism than most*, but then, they sell more than most.

*with the exception of the dreaded "The can didn't say it would ruin my patio" jollop from You-Know-Who