Extremely dusty garage

[bsteeves]

Hello everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster.

I bought my first house this past June and have finally been able to devote some time in cleaning up my garage. I have a typical raised ranch with two car garage. The floor appears to be in rough shape. There are some larger cracks and is very pitted. There are remnants of what appear to be white paint on the floor. It comes up very easily with one sweep of a broom. Also the garage is EXTREMELY dusty. When sweeping with the doors closed I need to use a mask.

Long story short what are my best options to bring my garage back to a respectible state outside of a whole new slab. It does not have to be perfect. I mainly use my garage for housing lawn maintenance tools and very rarely park the cars in the garage.

Thanks in advance

 

[LW CONCRETE]

I will followup with more info but the use of a densifier or even a simple penetrating clear sealer will dramatically reduce your dusting problem

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Yes, Joe is correct, densifier will stop dusting.

 

[dittle fart around]

A high pressure wash will help with what dust there is now.

 

[Edger]

It will never stop dusting unless you use a hardener/densifier. A sealer will dust underneath and peel up.

 

[bsteeves]

So should I fix the pits and larger cracks first and then use the densifier product?

My original plan was going to be to fix the pits and cracks and then use epoxy coat or something similar.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Densify first, then make your repairs.
You can still apply epoxy later if you choose.

 

[bsteeves]

Legacy,

I am on your website now. Any recommendations for a densifier? I am located in ny. Temps are currently 30 to 40 degrees. Should I wait until spring. My garage is probably 50 degrees if I had to guess.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

50 degrees is fine. Our base densifier HD36 is perfect for dusting.

 

[thegarageguy]

If densifier doesn't work, you can opt to resurface your slab. Now without seeing it, it's tough to really specify a system for you but with the description provided, I may opt for a urethane concrete chip flooring system. The system we prefer is the Duraflex Hybriflex EB

More info on it here

This system is not a band aid, a paint job or quick fix, its a permanent solution. Great when excessive deterioration, unevenness and high moisture is present. Typical cost runs at $8.50 per sqft

Here's a before and after examples of that system

 

[bsteeves]

Wow that looks great!!! $8.50 seems a bit pricey. I may stick with the densifier for now.

When referring to temps is it air temperature or the actual temperature of the slab?

 

[Brentocool]

I rarely sweep my garage floor because of dust. What I do is dampen the floor first with a hose. And then I hose it out with higher pressure. Kinda hard in the winter. But if its above freezing you can still do it!

 

[thegarageguy]

Wow that looks great!!! $8.50 seems a bit pricey. I may stick with the densifier for now.

When referring to temps is it air temperature or the actual temperature of the slab?

If you go with densifying...I would recommend to diamond grind it first to remove all the loose and soft concrete, therefore giving you a better chance not to waste your material investment. Good luck......p.s. send us pics.....before and afters