So if you work in any kind of garage or shop that is not a barn, there is likely a lot of concrete. The best way to take care of concrete is to clean and seal it periodically. Read more to see how I sealed mine.
We just moved into our new to us house last year. The house is only about 15 years old but the concrete in the garage is already starting to pit and spall a little bit. It also didn’t help that we just had some winter weather which means our two cars drug in a bunch of salt and moisture to add to the mix.
I wanted to seal the floor but not change the color or appearance. I also didn’t want to put down anything that would make the floor slippery when wet. I did a lot of research and checked the local box stores, but wasn’t finding what I wanted. There are epoxy sealants and polyurea sealers, but I had issues with both types. Epoxy wouldn’t work because when welding and rolling jacks in the garage I would inevitably chip it up. Polyurea I didn’t want to do because it makes the floor glossy and can be slippery when wet. Not good when I have a 2 year old running around.
I finally ended up stumbling across sealer with the ingredients Silane-Siloxane. I have no idea what it is, but the formula claims to seal the concrete without changing the color or texture of the concrete. It was cheap enough, so I bought a gallon to try it out.
Be sure to read the instructions on the floor cleaner. It is an acid that must be diluted. Please wear proper PPE, at least a good pair of boots, gloves, and safety glasses. Also it is a good idea to have a strong fan going to circulate in fresh air (please read the safety instructions before using). I diluted it in a bucket then sloshed it out on the floor. Spread it out with a push broom then let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then with the broom scrubbed the stained parts.
Once done with the cleaner, I sprayed the garage out again.
Next up was to address some of the cracks.
Be sure to get the ‘self leveling’ sealer, it works its way down into the cracks.
Upon researching the sealers, once I decided I wanted the Silane-Siloxane based sealer there were quite a few to pick from. I bought EasySeal natural look which turned out pretty good and was very affordable at ~$30 for a gallon. The runner up was GhostShield brand Siloxane sealer, but it was slightly more expensive. Be sure to read the reviews and the actual contents for whatever product you are looking at, the brand doesn’t matter as much as the contents.
You might be thinking “umm, it looks exactly the same just a little cleaner?” and I would say that is the point!
I specifically chose this sealer because it was NOT shiny and did not change the appearance of the floor. I didn’t want something that was going to be slick every time it was wet, or chip up over time. This stuff was SUPER easy to put on, was not sticky, and required no cleanup. I still have about 1/3 of the jug left and will need to do the third car garage once it gets nice again.
Now YOU, go out and seal your garage floor because I know you haven’t or you wouldn’t be reading this 🙂 . It is cheap and only takes a couple of hours out in the garage where you should be anyways.
The pictures made the instruction clearer and easy to understand, I was looking for this and luckily found your article I cant ask no more for the details its been all given, I hope I can manage to do this properly! Thank you for the share!
I like that you mentioned that you acid washed your pavement first and you gave us a blow by blow on your progress with your floor rehaul. We will need help in sealcoating and an expert to help us use silane-siloxane for our pavement floor.
nice post
Another masterpiece …..
I always use your techniques and found a great response. I like your presentation and the way you simplify a complex thing. And most importantly, keep helping all the online community members, like the way you do now. God bless you…
This post is very helpful and effective. The writing style is amazing. I am waiting for your new posts and please give me an update when you publish a new one. Thanks for your article!
I think most of the garage floor is made of concrete and it is difficult to know about cleaning the concrete floors easily. But there are some awesome ways to clean concrete floors easily. And this post is awesome. Thanks for these types of info.