Once a driveway has been cleaned back to bare concrete, the obvious next question is whether to seal it. We have covered whether sealing is worth doing at all. This is the next decision: which type.
Clear seal
A clear sealer soaks into or sits on top of the concrete without changing its colour. What it does change is the depth of tone. Concrete under a clear seal looks slightly darker and richer, the way a stone looks wet, and any exposed aggregate becomes more defined.
Clear is the right choice when the concrete is in good condition and you like what is underneath. Exposed aggregate driveways in particular look their best under a clear seal, because the point of the surface is the stone.
The trade-off is that clear hides nothing. Existing stains that did not fully lift during cleaning stay visible, and in some cases the sealer deepens them. If your driveway has patch repairs in a different shade of concrete, clear will make that contrast permanent for the life of the seal.
Colour seal
A colour or tinted seal adds pigment. It resurfaces the appearance of the driveway rather than just protecting it, evening out patchiness, blending repairs, and covering shadow staining that survived the clean.
This is the practical option for older driveways that have had a hard life, particularly ones with old oil staining that has penetrated too deep to fully remove. It is also the choice when a homeowner wants the driveway to match something else, a new render colour or a roof.
The trade-off runs the other way. Colour is a commitment. Removing it later means stripping it, which is more work than removing a clear coat. And because pigment sits in the film, wear patterns show up as colour loss in the wheel tracks over time, whereas clear tends to wear more evenly.
What both do for the concrete
Regardless of which you choose, a sealer reduces how much the concrete absorbs. That matters more in Brisbane than people assume. Unsealed concrete takes on water in heavy rain, holds it, and gives mould and lichen somewhere to establish. It also lets oil soak in rather than sit on the surface, which is the difference between a spill you can clean and a stain you cannot.
Practical considerations before you commit
Timing matters. The concrete has to be genuinely dry, which after a proper clean means a few days, longer in humid weather. Sealing over trapped moisture causes the coating to cloud, and once it has clouded the only fix is to strip it.
Expect to re-coat. Neither type lasts forever under Queensland sun and traffic. A well-applied seal on a domestic driveway typically wants attention every three to five years, sooner on a north-facing drive with no shade.
And be realistic about the starting point. Sealing is a finish, not a repair. If the concrete is spalling or cracked, seal it and you have a sealed cracked driveway.
Which one for your driveway?
As a rule: exposed aggregate or good-condition plain concrete, go clear. Older, patched, or stained concrete where you want a uniform look, go colour. If you are undecided, we can clean first and make the call once you can see what the concrete actually looks like underneath, which is usually a very different picture from what you started with.
