Not always. Sealing makes the most sense on concrete that gets wet, freezes and sees salt, like driveways, walks and steps. A covered patio that stays dry may never need it.
So the honest answer goes slab by slab, not house by house.
What makes the case in Evansville
Winter here is hard on bare concrete. NOAA’s 1991-2020 normals for Evansville Regional Airport count 90.4 nights a year at or below 32°F, plus about 10.8 inches of snow. Any of those nights can freeze the water sitting in a slab’s pores.
Salt adds to it. The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association says deicers make scaling worse, because they keep the surface wetter and add to the freeze-thaw cycles. The concrete that gets the most salt needs the most help: the driveway apron, the front walk, the steps, and the garage slab where slush drips off the car.
A quick sort for your property
- Strong case. Driveways, walks, steps and garage aprons out in the weather, most of all where salt goes down.
- Worth a look. Open patios and pool decks. They freeze and get rained on, even if they never see salt.
- Probably not. A patio under a roof, or any slab that stays dry all year.
- Too late for sealing. Slabs that are heaving, broken up or flaked across most of the top. That’s a concrete contractor’s call, not ours.
Still on the fence? Our post on whether to protect concrete now or wait walks through the trade-offs, and our concrete protection page shows how the work is done. Or call or text Revive Exteriors at (812) 664-6222. At a free exterior evaluation, we’ll tell you which of your slabs are worth it and which can be left alone.