How to Make Your Home’s Exterior Gleam: Start from the Ground Up

Curb appeal is an important part of homeownership. Keeping up with exterior maintenance doesn’t just keep your home in ground repair, it looks nicer. That can be a huge help if you’re considering putting your home on the market or you want to find a tenant. It also makes you happy to see your own home at the end of the day. Whether you want to add curb appeal for the next owner or so you love your own house, start with the concrete surfaces. Here are three ways you can make them gleam like new:

Polish your sidewalk and concrete paths.

Sidewalks get dirty and dim over time. All of the foot traffic can wear paths of dirt into the surface of the concrete. If your sidewalk is under your gutters or near the bottom of the downspouts, dirty water can also stain the surface. Garden paths can develop dirt stains, algae, and rusty patches.

Pressure washing your concrete regularly can do a great job to push out the stains and dirt, but it can never restore your concrete completely. Instead, get them covered by a coat of concrete polish. Concrete polish can seal the porous floor so stains can’t seep into the surface. The coating can also protect the floor against impact damage from dropped tools, bikes, and frequent wear. 

Even better, concrete coatings can come in different colors. Consider adding a color tint to make your sidewalks gleam white or a pattern to add color to your yard. Once the coating it in place, all you have to do to clean your sidewalks to sweep the dirt aside. 

Coat your driveway with a polyurethane sealant.

Driveways are a huge factor in your home’s curb appeal. If the concrete is cracked, spalled, or dirty, that sets the tone for prospective buyers who are looking for a clean and newer home. 

Coatings can fix all of those aesthetic problems. The sealant keeps mud, rust, and chemicals from your car from grinding into the concrete. During the winter, road salts and chemicals can get caught in your tires only to stain your driveway blue or gray. Even during the summer, air pollution and tire rubber can make an unprotected driveway dingy. But a driveway coating stops the stains from bleeding in through the concrete’s pores. 

Polyurethane coatings can also stop concrete damage in its tracks. Over time, the edges of an unprotected concrete slab will start to crumble away. The surface can also develop cracks even if there aren’t tree roots disrupting the slab. But a coating — and the professional installation process — removes that damage and holds the concrete surface together. Prepping the surface also includes removing the top latent layer of concrete, which tends to be the weakest part of the slab and is filled with water and chemical impurities.

Upgrade your home’s curb appeal without taking on a massive renovation project. Coating the concrete surfaces both radically transforms the look of your home and gives them long-lasting durability. Go to PolyTek Surface Coatings here to learn more about our services or browse our gallery.