Garages are extremely versatile spaces use for storing cars and working on automobiles. They are susceptible to large amounts of fluids, oils, soils, chemicals and abrasions. In order to protect your garage from all of these disastrous situations an industrial strength coatings should be applied to your garage floor.
Garage floor systems commonly consist of epoxy base coats and urethane top coats. The combination of the two coatings make the finished surface practically indestructible. In order for a garage floor coating to offer indefinite protection you need to make sure you properly prepare the surface. By using a floor grinder to scarify and etch the surface of the concrete you are exfoliating the slab and opening up all of the pores. By creating this rough surface porosity you are giving the coatings a surface to properly adhere to.
After the surface has been prepared you are then ready to apply the first part, the epoxy. Look for a cycloaliphatic epoxy that offers excellent chemical resistance properties. The downside to epoxies is their extremely long cure time of up to a week in some cases. After the epoxy is applied and fully cure you can apply a urethane top coat. Look for an aliphatic urethane that will provide excellent resistance to acids, oil, gasoline and other automobile fluids; also look make sure it is hot tire pickup resistant.
Our Take: Try Urethane 645 or Granitex Decorative Color Chip Systems for indestructible garage floor coatings.
Concrete driveways, extremely prominent in southern areas of the country, need to be sealed in order to protect them from sun, rain, weathering and other exterior elements. Driveways and sidewalks are susceptible to wear on a daily basis from foot traffic and automobile traffic. In order to protect your driveway you need to use an industrial grade concrete driveway sealer.
With the multitude of sealers on the market how do you choose the best sealer for a driveway? When looking for a concrete driveway sealer look for a silane/siloxane blended sealer. By using a silane/siloxane you get the benefits of a penetrating and a topical sealer all-in-one. Other benefits of using a silane/siloxane on a driveway include the prevention of mold, mildew, efflorescence, sun, wind driven rain, salt degradation and hydrostatic pressure. You will literally be able to see the sealer working before your eyes; silane/siloxanes are known for their beading of water.
Silane/Siloxanes are extremely popular sealers sold from everywhere from local hardware stores, big box retail chains and online. Make sure to look for a silane/siloxane that will protect from salt, chlorides, freeze-thaw damage and water.
Our Take: Top driveway sealers are Siloxa-Tek 8500 and Okon S-40.
Polished concrete is one of the newer choices many people make for their concrete surfaces. Concrete naturally is a very porous material made from the mixing of water, Portland cement, and some sort of aggregate, such as stones, gravel, or sand. The mixture, when properly completed, results in the formation of concrete that features a large amount of tiny pores and hairline cracks that extend, web-like, throughout the concrete. While these pores and cracks do not overly inhibit the concrete’s strength, they can be the cause of future damage.
To make sure your concrete is as strong as it possibly can be, as well as protected from potential future harm, you need to make sure you seal your concrete with the appropriate concrete sealer. However, the situation changes slightly if you decide to polish your concrete. Polishing concrete is a choice many people make because it grinds down the surface of the concrete to transform the pockmarked natural surface into a smooth, shiny expanse of concrete. These types of floors are typically found in large retail stores, such as Home Depot, as well as a number of other venues.
While the polishing process is as simple as renting a concrete grinder and following the instructions from there on, there is a crucial step that many people skip. Skipping this step, of course, can result in absolute disaster for the concrete, leading to excessive cracking, crumbling, and general degradation that can necessitate costly repairs.
Before you can polish concrete, you need to increase the strength and density of the slab. Polishing pushes the concrete’s structural integrity to the brink, which can be problematic for untreated concrete. In order to ensure a successful concrete polishing process, you need to treat the concrete slab with a concrete densifier. The best choice for this project would be a lithium silicate/siliconate. These types of sealer are the strongest densifiers on the market, featuring deep penetration and comprehensive chemical reactions that create more calcium silicate hydrate (or CSH) that gives concrete its noted strength. Once the lithium silicate sealer has been properly applied, the concrete can be polished without fear of damage caused by untreated concrete.
While many concrete sealers claim to offer protection from water damage, most only offer some degree of water resistance. If you are looking for a true water repellent sealer, for instance, an acrylic will not really give you the protection you have in mind. Water repellent sealers are different from penetrating sealers because they are surface sealers. A good example to picture the protection offered by a water repellent would be that they act like a raincoat does. When applied to the concrete, the water visibly beads before sliding off, keeping the concrete dry underneath.
Just like penetrating sealers, water repellent sealers are appropriate for certain types of projects. A delicate piece of concrete cannot be treated with a concrete densifier or any other type of penetrating concrete sealer. Instead, a water repellent sealer is more appropriate, as these types of sealers feature large particles of sealant that cannot penetrate past the tiny surface pores natural to concrete. In order to ensure the concrete sealer is applied properly, you just need to pour out the sealer onto the concrete before spreading it out across the surface of the material.
If you are looking for a sealer that repels water, your best choice would be a silane/siloxane type of sealer. Be sure to look for a water-based variety that offers comparable levels of protection to solvent-based counterparts. Silane/siloxane sealers are made up of a blend of penetrating silane particles combined with surface-level siloxane particles. These two types of particles of chemical sealant function in concert to create a hydrophobic barrier that will block out water and excessive moisture from entering the concrete. The two types of sealant particles ensure that the surface of the concrete retains the most thorough possible protection, while the concrete itself is also protected in case any water seeps through the primary surface level of protection.
Our Take: Water repellents we recommend are Okon S-40 or Siloxa-Tek 8500
If you live in an area with a warmer climate, such as in the West or the South, then there is a strong possibility that your driveway will be made from concrete. Concrete driveways also appear in colder climates, though asphalt tends to be the preferred method of construction, as it holds up to colder seasons better than traditional concrete.
Either way, wherever your home is located, having a concrete driveway means you are at risk for the various problems that can plague exterior concrete. Concrete, while strong and long-lasting, can suffer from cracking, spalling, crumbling, and a general degradation over time with prolonged exposure to the elements. As concrete is dotted with tiny pores all across its surface, these pores can allow water, salts, and other debris to enter to the concrete’s microscopic network of pores and hairline cracks. The incursion of water, salts, and such can be disastrous for the concrete driveway, as the concrete can degrade over time from within.
Fortunately, there is an easy solution to prevent the degradation of your concrete driveway. Whether you live in a warmer or colder climate, you will want to use an acrylic sealer on your delicate pavered driveway. Pavers are a type of concrete with larger pores that is, accordingly, more porous. The increased porosity of the concrete makes penetrating sealers a bad option for protecting the surface from degradation. Therefore, the best option remaining is a surface sealer, like an acrylic.
You will likely want to choose an acrylic sealer that is a water-based solution, as these are easier to apply while also being safer for yourself, your family, and the environment. These sealers are full of large particles of acrylic sealant that pool on the surface of the concrete driveway to be spread out evenly over the course of the application. Once spread out properly, the sealer will provide comprehensive surface-level protection.
Our Take: The top acrylic sealers for exterior driveways are Cryli-Tek 5505 and Everclear
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