Sealer for concrete shop floor?

[kevinwak]

I just had my apron in front of the garage resealed. It lasted about two years and I could really tell in the third year that the sealEr was gone. The road salt off of the car in the winter ate its way into the concrete so much in the third year, where as the first two years it didn't even make a mark. Around here the main reason for sealing is to keep the road salt from chewing its way into the surface

 

[Rustyiron]

I used a sealer from Euclid Chemical called rez seal diamond clear on my shop. I got it from a commercial concrete contractor supply house. It is a solvent based sealer that will help keep it from staining, easy sweeping but most importantly, it helps the concrete cure properly (slowly) for better long term life. This was on my first shop and I would reccomend it. Then on my current shop, I got talked into a BS water based (low VOC's) on my current shop because I have radiant heat. That crap dissolves with a little mist of WD-40 dropped on it. A TOTAL wast of time & money, although I do believe that it did aid in the proper curing of the slab.
Look for a "solvent based" cure & seal professional product that you do NOT find at the "Harry homeowner" store's.

 

[Rustyiron]

Here you go Rez-Seal - Euclid Chemical

It's been about 20 years since I used this and I may have been mistaken about the "Diamond clear" part of my previous post. I thought that was part of it's name, but I'm sure about the Rez seal part.:confused3:

 

[orezok]

I worked as a construction manager in the commercial/industrial sector for almost 40 years and have sealed 10's of thousands of feet of concrete. The best products for longevity and performance were made by Prosoco. They have been in business since 1939 so they know what they are doing.

I have a school district warehouse that we sealed 19 years ago that sees constant forklift traffic every day and it still's good. Still has a gloss.

Unfortunately, it's expensive, but doing it 2 or3 times is expensive too.

 

[SPIKER]

I'm working on my barn pad (outside) over last few weeks filling in the cut lines as the winter water drains thru cracks and is frost heaving it. I would (if I had it to do again) NOT have the cut lines put in. It will crack some sure but the cracks are much smaller and usually not full way thru to let water/weeds get in there. The small hairline cracks also much easier to seal up & fix.

Going to re-coat the exterior slab with a water penetration preventive, I tried a small crack w it last year and it works like crazy good. Called WATER BLOCK & bought it from Menards made for stepping stones & like. spray it on and it soaks in pretty fast sealing up the surface... I'm going to put several wet coats on it in next couple weeks when I get time.

M

 

[dstig1]

I haven't used it but member SirReal63 mentioned something about this stuff called Ashford Formula (sp?). Supposed to be a surface hardener that is not a sealer but really consolidates and seals up the surface, making it even harder and non porous. He's used it in his house build thread but as I noted I have no experience with it. It did intrigue me...

I have used the concrete sealers which are nothing more than an acrylic polymer in a toluene solvent solution. Spread it out, the toluene evaporates, and you have a sealer. It helps keep water in during cure, but any non-polar solvent (gas, oil, etc) is going to redissolve it and leave a stain. That is what most people get when they ask for a concrete sealer. Again, good for curing the slab, but not going to stop any real stains.

 

[Paddy]

Fat Tire,

we built a concrete home and have all concrete floors. We acid stained the floors first. We started with a 2 part clear epoxy. We bought it from "Job site Supply". Had to stop because it made the green stain turn blue. Too bad too because it's a great hard finish. We then used a Xylene based sealer on the other floors. We put many coats to build it up. Odd thing is, the second, third ect coats melts/softens the previous coats. Great for bonding but started to fish eye, circle wrinkles so to speak. So we have both sealers in our
home and the xylean based sealer dulls very fast and requires waxing to get back a shine. Epoxy just waxed once, and likely all gone, and is still very shinny.
If I had it to do it again, I'd not use the green stain so I could use the epoxy. Just a much harder surface. Also, epoxy can be very tolerant to gas and oils.
We too are building a garage, just poured the slab. Just for fun, we will acid stain it first but then seal it with clear 2 part epoxy

Keep in mind, concrete floors are made super slick for easy cleaning, also very slippery with fall hazards. If you put the anti skid texture, harder to clean.

 

[Bird]

Friend put a very fancy sealer on his new concrete attached garage floor. The sealer was a light blue and then you sprinkle on little colored beads of plastic and roll them in while the sealer is still wet - or something like that.

The sealer job lasted forever because the family moved all their junk out into the new garage and it never saw a car, or gas or anything corrosive. As a matter of fact, if you looked carefully or moved the mound of accumulated junk - you could actually see the floor.

That sounds like the Rustoleum garage floor finish that I used in our garage, and we do park the cars there.
Rust-Oleum EpoxyShield 2 gal. Gray 2-Part High-Gloss Epoxy Garage Floor Coating Kit-251870 - The Home Depot

I sure wish I'd known about it and put it in my shop before I got some much stuff in the way there. I've thought about trying to move everything to one side and do half of it at a time.

 

[GLyford]

I built my shed with a broom finish for traction in all weather, and spot protect it with strategic application of small quantities of motor oil, bar oil, and gas treatment as needed to maintain the correct appearance. Some of the shelves, too... I ought to get out the blower and get rid of some of the grass clippings and cobwebs, though.

The apron in front hasn't been the same since it was cracked by a 10-wheeler load of loam for the garden (we live on sand, if I want actual dirt, I have to buy it). The cracks are maybe a half inch wide now and have the usual collection of crabgrass, clover, and creeping thyme. Just make sure the mower blades are engaged after filling up and it's all good. The apron was poured at the last minute without rebar to use up a half yard of concrete, so as long as it keeps the weeds down enough to open the doors it is doing its job.

What, it's a shed...

 

[FatTire]

Thanks for all the ideas, I see I have more research to do. How tough are these epoxy products (assuming proper application, etc.)? I'll be storing equipment with tire chains all winter, would I need to lay mats down to prevent the epoxy from chipping/peeling?