Basic Description

Sealers and seal coatings are used to seal surfaces or to form a barrier on a surface. By contrast, sealants are used to seal joints or gaps between surfaces.

Types

There are many types of sealers and seal coatings for industrial, commercial, and residential applications.  Examples include:

• Wall sealers
• Floor sealers
• Roof sealers
• Deck sealers
• Seal coatings for ceilings
• Pavement sealers and walkway sealers
• Concrete sealers
• Building sealers
• Construction sealers
• Marine sealers
• General-purpose industrial seal coatings
• Automotive paint sealers
• Aircraft seal coatings

In building and construction application, waterproof sealers may be required. Some sealers have coarser particles for popcorn coatings, or are designed to provide a textured anti-slip surface.

Wall and floor sealers and seal coatings may be applied with sprayers, brushes, or rollers.

Products include basement waterproof sealers for poured concrete, concrete blocks, cinder blocks, masonry, and stone foundations.

Curing sealers are used with surfaces such as new concrete slabs. Poured walls and slabs may require deep sealing.

Roof sealers include liquid elastomeric coatings that, when fully adhered, provide a rubber-like protective membrane for metal, single-ply, built-up, or modified bitumen roofs.

These sealers and seal coatings may be applied to roofs or wall systems during construction, or as part of building maintenance or upgrades.

Primers and finish coats are sprayed-on to provide both a consistent appearance and durable finish. Exterior sealers such as asphalt seal coatings are also available. These products are used to extend the life of asphalt driveways and other asphalt surfaces. 

Applications

Sealers and seal coatings are applied to parts and production plant surfaces in industrial applications.

Building and Construction

• Walls
• Floors
• Ceilings
• Roofs

These are for both industrial and architectural applications.

Interior applications for sealers and seal coatings include the protection of architectural structures and surfaces. Interior-grade sealers and seal coatings do not require the weather-resistance of exterior-grade products, except in some below-grade, bathroom, and kitchen applications.

By design, exterior sealers and seal coatings protect the outside of a structure or surface. They are used with building exteriors and provide environmental resistance to wind, rain, heat, cold, dust, sand, erosion, sunlight, or ultraviolet (UV) light. Often, environmental resistance is described as weathering, weathering proof, or weather resistance.

Industrial 

• Powder  metallurgy (PM) components
• Machine die castings
• Electronic components
• Automotive parts 

Standards

AASHTO M 224 - Standard specification for use of protective sealers for Portland cement concrete

BRE IP20/87 - External joinery: End-grain sealers and moisture control

DELPHI DX900002 - Test for cold shock resistance of sealers, deadeners and vinyl films

FORD FLTM BV 154-03 - Tensile, shear, and peel adhesion of heat-curing sealers and heavy mastic adhesives

References

Image Credits:

Ellsworth Adhesives | Grainger Industrial Supply | Hubbard-Hall Inc. | R. S. Hughes Company, Inc.