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Tuesday Concrete Sealer Question

lt1yj

Well-known member
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Jul 6, 2020
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Had my storage building floor poured ~30 days ago with a burnished finish. The guys did an awesome job.

This building will be storage for all my junk: Jeeps, parts, wood, boat, trailer, loader, skid steer..... Not heated so it will see -20 to 105 degree temp swings. It will not be used for fabrication, welding, or car repair. Just storage.

My current shop floor was never sealed and it's been difficult to keep clean. I'm looking for advice for concrete sealers that will stand up to forklift and small equipment (under 12K) and allow me to broom sweep clean and be able to wipe up oil rather than having it soak in. My current shop floor will not broom sweep clean even with the sticky dust prep stuff.

I'm not interested in an epoxy floor finish or paint. I don't mind reapplying every 4-5 yrs if necessary.

What do you recommend and any advice to get the best results.
 
Densified and sealed, oil still soaks right in. Have it in my house. Next time i do it will be a quality epoxy job.
 
Forgot to mention, this is fiber reinforced. Some of the sealers I've been looking at specifically state they don't work with fiber. Ghostshield is compatible from a quick review.
 
when I did my floor, I sealed it with whatever Home Depot had on the shelf
I don't remember the brand name. but 20 years later of working on it every day, driving a forklift, fab sparks etc. Still sealed

I have yet to have a oil stain, and I have dumped a lot of oil being clumsy

they were in one gallon milk jug looking things, like that helps :grinpimp:
 
bringing this to the top. I want to seal my 20 yr old but pretty new condition garage floor. Eventually I'm going to put down a racedeck open grid system so dust/metal shavings/etc fall thru and the kids don't step on them.

Looking for the cheap easy to apply solution to make water bead and hopefully resist the occasional automotive fluid spill until I can wipe it up. Roller application is OK or a garden sprayer with backroll would be acceptable. Bonus points if I can use it on the front walk pavers and slate/bluestone steps.

i think i want natural/matte finish and not glossy. I'll have to make sure the boss agrees if I use it on the front walk too.

what should i be using? easy application is key.

I can get 4gal of this stuff for $100 or so off FB. is this better than the options below?
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Lowes has these
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home depot
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or do I just do the shitty rustoleum epoxy knowing it won't hold up but i'm gonna cover it with tiles in the future anyway
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I sprayed something on my floor the day after pouring, got it from the concrete mixer truck.
stains cleaned up pretty good, gets sticky when lacquer thinner or gas was spilled on it but back to normal after it evaporated.

no idea what it was too long ago
 
3:1 tung oil and kerosene
 
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My good for nothing, red coat, brother in law was given some epoxy hanger paint. It requires a hardner.

The dumb mother fucker painted it on the garage floor, and didn't mix in the hardener.

He made a royal fuckin mess.
 
budget76 said:
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Used to use the shit out of that on bridges and never really found it to be much of a sealer. I wouldn't bother with it.

If you're dead set against epoxy, I'd look for a penetrating sealer.....but even those are never going to fully keep oil from soaking and staining. Epoxy is that way to go if you're goal is easy clean up and/or not staining.
 
Kyle said:
I would not buy old stock.
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the FB one isn't old stock, the guy used a gallon for his deck and is selling the rest. but its less convenient than going to HD/lowes anyway

the old garage was filled with 50 years of oil. i'd prefer to avoid that this time around
 
bgaidan said:
Used to use the shit out of that on bridges and never really found it to be much of a sealer. I wouldn't bother with it.

If you're dead set against epoxy, I'd look for a penetrating sealer.....but even those are never going to fully keep oil from soaking and staining. Epoxy is that way to go if you're goal is easy clean up and/or not staining.
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thanks. that may be a push towards the cheap epoxy then. I'm definitely not doing the couple-thousand-dollar "pro" grade stuff, I've already decided drainable tiles are the play for this one for various reasons


if i put on an addition with an extra bay that'll be the more abused bay and get a different solution. likely actual porcelain or ceramic tile
 
bgaidan said:
Used to use the shit out of that on bridges and never really found it to be much of a sealer. I wouldn't bother with it.

If you're dead set against epoxy, I'd look for a penetrating sealer.....but even those are never going to fully keep oil from soaking and staining. Epoxy is that way to go if you're goal is easy clean up and/or not staining.
Click to expand...
Most sealers that actually work (industrial sealers) require the installer to bead blast the concrete and open it up, so the sealer really penetrates and properly adhere.
 
I used Hardener/Densifier, mechanically applied with a floor scrubber, it reacts with the concrete and chemically hardens the upper portion of the slab. It repels oil spills well as long as you clean it up in a reasonable time.

Love the shit, my floor is abused (welding, Fab, repair) drop heavy stuff all the time doesn't faze it. It also doesn't sluff concrete dust. I can run sleds in and out with Carbide runners and not cut the floor, will leave a white line that disappears after a week or so of traffic but doesn't cut into the concrete. ( sled guys will understand)

It is designed for parking garages I was told, the more traffic the harder it gets without being brittle. Kind of like case hardening I guess.

Talk to your local concrete plant, most residential mud slingers know nothing of it.

Also, it cant be applied after any sealer........it would have to be blasted or ground first.
 
grumpy356 said:
Most sealers that actually work (industrial sealers) require the installer to bead blast the concrete and open it up, so the sealer really penetrates and properly adhere.
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good to know. I figured it'd be more of a "soak into the upper layer, apply another coat to seal it up" but then I guess that's more of a coating than an absorbed sealer at that point.

now i'm leaning towards the cheap epoxy...
 
Grind and polish. Walk in the big box stores and look down.
 
Ebs said:
Grind and polish. Walk in the big box stores and look down.
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for the working shop - potentially. this will be the "pretty" garage that for now I'll work in for maintenance and some fab

it's actually probably 1/2 polished or at least smooth already. i think it's worn a little where car tires and feet tracked in salt thru the years
 
Floor paint worked decent at the sawmill shop. Just redid it every few years in the high traffic/use areas to keep it looking nice.
Was like $30 a gallon from Lowes.

Also brightened the place up vs just a bare slab.
 
AKnate said:
Floor paint worked decent at the sawmill shop. Just redid it every few years in the high traffic/use areas to keep it looking nice.
Was like $30 a gallon from Lowes.

Also brightened the place up vs just a bare slab.
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way cheaper than the rustoleum stuff and I'd bet it holds up the same. tempting...
 
budget76 said:
way cheaper than the rustoleum stuff and I'd bet it holds up the same. tempting...
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I came across the pic of the stuff in my phone a few days, can't seem to find it now.
They might not even carry it anymore, was on a bottom shelf, nin descript label.
Said "floor paint" i think and one would figure it was cheap shit.

Was the good, see the color 1776 if you didn't open a window stuff.
I got a bit on my hands and took like 2 weeks to fully wear off.
 
AKnate said:
I came across the pic of the stuff in my phone a few days, can't seem to find it now.
They might not even carry it anymore, was on a bottom shelf, nin descript label.
Said "floor paint" i think and one would figure it was cheap shit.

Was the good, see the color 1776 if you didn't open a window stuff.
I got a bit on my hands and took like 2 weeks to fully wear off.
Click to expand...
you know..

i questioned on Garage Journal if anyone had ever used Rustoleum Stops Rust (the shit we use on metal) on a floor. nobody had seen it, but nobody could give me a good reason why its a bad idea. I've spilled enough on the floor unintentionally to know it doesn't come off once it dried. Sounds like what you found may have been similar composition.


i may have to try a test patch, let it dry a couple days, then attack it with a wire wheel and heat gun and see what it does...

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My 2 yo slab is trash. Plan on trying this out before winter. Don’t have a lift yet & I hate using a creeper, it took me a while to realize why my back was so itchy after crawling under vehicles. The damn fiber is floating around in the dust.
 
budget76 said:
you know..

i questioned on Garage Journal if anyone had ever used Rustoleum Stops Rust (the shit we use on metal) on a floor. nobody had seen it, but nobody could give me a good reason why its a bad idea. I've spilled enough on the floor unintentionally to know it doesn't come off once it dried. Sounds like what you found may have been similar composition.


i may have to try a test patch, let it dry a couple days, then attack it with a wire wheel and heat gun and see what it does...

1724268809286.png
Click to expand...
Everytime I've tried that stuff it takes weeks to not be tacky.
I could see it turning the floor into a giant glue trap.
 
If you want to do it right pentra sil 244+

It ain't cheap
 
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