Foot Prints Beneath Sealer

[teacher]

I recently sealed a concrete paver driveway with a solvent based coating sealer. While we were doing the sealing, one of the guys I was working with walked across the unsealed section of the driveway, leaving wet footprints from the water we had sprayed on the surrounding grass. The guys just sprayed right over them with sealer, and the next day where he had walked showed up as white footprints.

I know I could strip the sealer in those spots to remove the footprints, but is there any other, less messy way to get rid of them? Any input would be helpful.

[sandman]

Have a little patience. Most likely, the moisture will dissipate over a week or two. After the whiteness goes away, and if there's still a different appearance, apply a little toluene to re-emulsify the acrylics allowing it to sit back down on the pavers like the rest of them.

[Whyzman]

I would agree with sandman to apply a bit of patience...however, my suspicion is that it the footprints will remain. My theory that this will be so is that the sealers are a "static" application, in that once applied, they penetrate and dry. The "white" is probably due to the oil/water mix not unlike a headgasket allowing water into the oil in a vehicle.

If this composite has solidified and the water is encapsulated I don't see changing. I'm wondering if the water could separate and evaporate, whether it will still look different because the sealer will not have penetrated as it did elsewhere. It may indeed be that you'll need to administer a solvent to bring things back to a "dynamic" situation and allow for the penetration to take place...

[Paver]

The water left behind by the foot print prevented the acrylic in the sealer from bonding to the paver surface. The moisture will go away, but slowly because it can't evaporate off the surface (that is the patience part). The white will still be there, but after 7-14 days, spray on a little coat (just enough to wet the surface) of Toluene, no Xylene. The acrylic will melt and bond to the surface and the white mark will go away. Just make sure the surface is clean and dry before applying the Toluene and make sure it isn't going to rain for the first few hours after application and keep traffic off it.