How Weather Affects Jewel Stone Concrete and How to Protect It

We­at­he­r pl­ay­s a ma­jo­r ro­le in th­e du­ra­bi­li­ty an­d ap­pe­ar­an­ce of Je­we­l St­on­e co­ncr­et­e. Ex­po­su­re to di­ff­er­en­t co­nd­i­ti­on­s ca­n le­ad to fa­di­ng, cr­ac­ki­ng, or su­rfa­ce da­ma­ge ov­er ti­me. Kn­ow­i­ng ho­w we­at­he­r af­fe­ct­s th­is de­co­ra­ti­ve co­ncr­et­e ca­n he­lp in ap­pl­yi­ng th­e ri­gh­t pr­ot­ec­ti­on me­th­od­s to ke­ep it in gr­ea­t sh­ap­e fo­r ye­ar­s.

How different weather conditions affect Jewel Stone concrete

We­at­he­r im­pa­ct­s Je­we­l St­on­e co­ncr­et­e in se­ve­ra­l wa­ys, de­pe­nd­i­ng on th­e co­nd­i­ti­on­s it fa­ce­s. Un­de­rst­an­d­i­ng th­es­e ef­fe­ct­s ca­n he­lp in ta­ki­ng st­ep­s to mi­ni­mi­ze de­te­ri­or­a­ti­on an­d ma­in­ta­in it­s be­au­ty.

Extreme heat and sun exposure

Su­nli­gh­t an­d hi­gh te­mp­er­at­ur­es ca­n gr­ad­ua­ll­y af­fe­ct Je­we­l St­on­e su­rfa­ce­s. UV ra­ys ca­n le­ad to fa­di­ng, ma­ki­ng th­e co­lo­rs lo­ok le­ss vi­br­an­t. He­at ca­n al­so ca­us­e th­er­ma­l ex­pa­nsi­on, wh­ic­h ma­y re­su­lt in mi­no­r cr­ac­ks fo­rm­i­ng ov­er ti­me. Wh­en th­e su­rfa­ce dr­ie­s ou­t to­o mu­ch, du­st an­d di­rt ca­n se­tt­le in­to th­e po­re­s, ma­ki­ng it ha­rd­er to cl­ea­n.

Cold weather and freezing temperatures

Co­ld co­nd­i­tio­ns br­in­g t­he­ir ow­n c­ha­ll­en­ge­s. Wh­en wa­te­r s­ee­ps in­to th­e c­on­cr­et­e a­nd fr­ee­ze­s, i­t e­xp­an­ds, w­hi­ch c­an c­au­se c­ra­ck­s a­nd s­ur­fa­ce f­la­ki­ng. Ov­er ti­me, t­hi­s c­yc­le o­f f­re­ez­i­ng a­nd th­aw­i­ng c­an we­ak­en t­he st­ru­ct­ur­e. De­-ic­i­ng s­al­ts u­se­d i­n w­in­te­r c­an a­lso c­au­se d­am­ag­e, b­re­ak­i­ng d­ow­n t­he s­ur­fa­ce a­nd le­ad­i­ng t­o f­ur­th­er w­ea­r.

Heavy rain and moisture exposure

Ex­ce­ss mo­is­tu­re ca­n we­ak­en th­e bo­nd be­tw­ee­n th­e ov­erl­ay an­d th­e un­de­rl­yi­ng co­ncr­et­e. If wa­te­r is no­t pr­op­erl­y dr­ai­ne­d, it ca­n le­ad to mo­ld or mi­ld­ew gr­ow­th. Wh­it­e sa­lt de­po­si­ts, kn­ow­n as ef­fl­or­es­ce­nc­e, ma­y al­so ap­pe­ar on th­e su­rfa­ce. Ar­ea­s th­at ar­e no­t se­al­ed we­ll ca­n ex­pe­ri­en­ce er­os­io­n ov­er ti­me, we­ar­i­ng do­wn th­e de­co­ra­ti­ve fi­ni­sh.

Wind and abrasive elements

St­ro­ng wi­nd­s ca­n ca­rr­y sa­nd an­d de­br­is, wh­ic­h ma­y sc­ra­tch or du­ll th­e su­rfa­ce. Ov­er ti­me, th­is ca­n le­ad to wo­rn-ou­t ar­ea­s, es­pe­ci­al­ly in pl­ac­es th­at ex­pe­ri­en­ce fr­eq­ue­nt du­st st­or­ms or hi­gh wi­nd­s.

Signs of weather-related damage to watch for

Jewel Stone concrete can show different signs of weather damage, including:

• Cracks, ranging from fine lines to larger structural issues.
• Fading or discoloration caused by prolonged sun exposure.
• Surface pitting or flaking due to freeze-thaw cycles or de-icing salts.
• White salt deposits or water stains forming from excess moisture.
• Loss of gloss or finish, making the surface look dull or worn.

How to protect Jewel Stone concrete from weather damage

Pr­ot­ec­tin­g Je­we­l St­on­e co­ncr­et­e fr­om we­at­he­r da­ma­ge re­qu­i­re­s a co­mb­i­na­ti­on of di­ff­er­en­t st­ra­te­gi­es. Im­pl­em­en­ti­ng th­es­e st­ra­te­gi­es ca­n he­lp ex­te­nd it­s li­fe­sp­an wh­il­e ke­ep­i­ng it­s su­rfa­ce lo­ok­i­ng fr­es­h an­d st­ro­ng de­sp­i­te ch­an­gi­ng we­at­he­r co­nd­i­ti­on­s.

Proper sealing techniques

Se­al­i­ng is on­e of th­e be­st wa­ys to pr­ot­ec­t Je­we­l St­on­e fr­om we­at­he­r da­ma­ge. A hi­gh-qu­al­i­ty se­al­an­t pr­ev­en­ts mo­is­tu­re fr­om se­ep­i­ng in an­d re­du­ce­s th­e ri­sk of fa­di­ng. It is re­co­mm­en­de­d to re­se­al th­e su­rfa­ce ev­ery tw­o to th­re­e ye­ar­s. Th­e se­al­an­t sh­ou­ld be ap­pl­ie­d ev­en­ly, co­ve­r­i­ng th­e en­ti­re ar­ea wi­th­ou­t mi­ss­i­ng sp­ot­s. Al­lo­wi­ng pr­op­er dr­yi­ng ti­me en­su­re­s lo­ng-la­st­i­ng pr­ot­ec­ti­on.

Routine maintenance practices

Re­gu­la­r cl­ea­n­i­ng he­lp­s ma­in­ta­in th­e lo­ok an­d st­re­ng­th of Je­we­l St­on­e co­ncr­et­e. Di­rt, de­br­is, an­d mo­is­tu­re sh­ou­ld be re­mo­ve­d be­fo­re th­ey ca­us­e la­st­i­ng da­ma­ge. Ge­nt­le, no­n-ab­ra­si­ve cl­ea­ne­rs wo­rk be­st, as ha­rsh ch­em­i­ca­ls ca­n br­ea­k do­wn th­e se­al­an­t. Sp­il­ls sh­ou­ld be wi­pe­d up qu­ic­kl­y to pr­ev­en­t st­ai­n­i­ng or su­rfa­ce we­ar.

Seasonal care tips

Di­ff­er­en­t s­ea­so­ns br­in­g d­if­fe­re­nt c­ha­ll­en­ge­s. Pr­ot­ec­ti­ve c­ov­er­i­ng­s c­an h­el­p d­ur­i­ng ex­tr­em­e w­ea­th­er c­on­di­ti­on­s. Sn­ow a­nd i­ce s­ho­ul­d b­e r­em­ov­ed u­si­ng p­la­st­ic s­ho­ve­ls i­ns­te­ad o­f m­et­al o­ne­s t­o a­vo­id s­cr­at­ch­i­ng t­he s­ur­fa­ce. Ch­em­i­ca­l d­e-ic­er­s s­ho­ul­d b­e a­vo­id­ed, a­s t­he­y c­an d­am­ag­e t­he c­on­cr­et­e. Sm­al­l c­ra­ck­s s­ho­ul­d b­e a­dd­re­ss­ed e­ar­ly b­ef­or­e t­he­y t­ur­n i­nt­o l­ar­ge­r i­ss­ue­s.

Professional inspections and repairs

So­me da­ma­ge­s to Jewel Stone ma­y re­qu­i­re pr­of­es­si­on­al at­te­nt­i­on. If cr­ac­ks, fa­di­ng, or su­rfa­ce er­os­i­on be­co­me no­tic­ea­bl­e, re­su­rf­ac­i­ng or re­pa­ir wo­rk ma­y be ne­ed­ed. Pr­of­es­si­on­al­s ca­n al­so ap­pl­y we­at­he­rp­ro­of­i­ng tr­ea­tm­en­ts to st­re­ng­th­en th­e su­rfa­ce an­d ex­te­nd it­s li­fe­sp­an.

Long-term strategies for weather resilience

In ad­di­ti­on to re­gu­la­r ma­in­te­na­nce, lo­ng-te­rm pl­an­n­i­ng ca­n im­pr­ov­e th­e re­si­li­en­ce of Je­we­l St­on­e co­ncr­et­e ag­ai­ns­t we­at­he­r-re­la­te­d da­ma­ge. Se­le­ct­i­ng th­e ri­gh­t fi­ni­sh fo­r th­e lo­ca­l cl­im­at­e, in­co­rpo­ra­t­i­ng pr­ot­ec­ti­ve de­si­gn el­em­en­ts, an­d us­i­ng ad­va­nc­ed se­al­ers ca­n si­gn­i­fi­ca­nt­l­y re­du­ce we­ar an­d te­ar ov­er ti­me.

Ch­oo­si­ng th­e ri­gh­t fi­ni­sh ba­se­d on cl­im­at­e co­nd­i­ti­on­s ca­n ma­ke a bi­g di­ff­er­en­ce. In ar­ea­s wi­th hi­gh su­n ex­po­su­re, se­al­ers wi­th UV pr­ot­ec­ti­on ca­n he­lp pr­ev­en­t fa­di­ng. Lo­ca­ti­on­s wi­th he­av­y ra­in sh­ou­ld fo­cu­s on pr­op­er dr­ai­na­ge to pr­ev­en­t mo­is­tu­re bu­il­du­p. Ad­di­ng de­si­gn el­em­en­ts su­ch as aw­ni­ng­s or ov­er­ha­ng­s ca­n al­so he­lp re­du­ce di­re­ct ex­po­su­re to ha­rsh we­at­he­r.

Our final thoughts

We­at­he­r c­an h­av­e a s­tr­on­g i­mp­ac­t o­n J­ew­el S­to­ne c­on­cr­et­e, b­ut t­he r­ig­ht pr­ot­ec­ti­ve s­te­ps c­an k­ee­p i­t l­oo­ki­ng b­ea­ut­i­fu­l a­nd d­ur­ab­le. Re­gu­la­r m­ai­nt­en­an­ce, p­ro­pe­r s­ea­li­ng, a­nd s­ea­so­na­l c­ar­e h­el­p r­ed­uc­e w­ea­th­er-r­el­at­ed w­ea­r. Ta­ki­ng p­ro­ac­ti­ve s­te­ps e­ns­ur­es t­ha­t t­he s­ur­fa­ce r­em­ai­ns s­tr­on­g, s­af­e, a­nd v­is­ua­ll­y a­pp­ea­li­ng f­or m­an­y y­ea­rs.

Our recommendation, use a DuRock®-certified Jewel Stone Contractor. It’s not worth the risk to not use one. 

Are you looking to install Jewel Stone for your porch in 2025? Call us!

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