Floor coating on new concrete

[masher]

I thought Id post this question in this forum as well as I'm not getting much activity in the Flooring forum.

I just poured the concrete in my barn, 40x72, and want to either coat or epoxy the floor. Its been about 3 weeks so I've got another week or so before I can do anything. I want to seal it from oil, gas, grease and other junk while I'm working on stuff. I would also like it to be easier to squeegee to the drains in the winter time and help protect from road salt. Anyone have suggestions? Clear sealer would probably be the cheapest but I like the looks of a uniform color floor but epoxy can get expensive.

 

[Toolfool]

I usually do a Kemiko water-based acid stain, then Dayton Superior TufSeal J35 clear coat (at least 4 coats).

 

[RPH]

I went with 4 different colors of acid stain, Ghostshield 4500 densifier, and Ghostshield 8505 sealer. It’s a working shop and it’s worked very well at keeping stains out.

 

[masher]

Never heard of either those. I'll check them out. I personally dont like the stained look though, I'll either clear coat seal it or coat it a uniform color like a light gray.

 

[RPH]

Never heard of either those. I'll check them out. I personally dont like the stained look though, I'll either clear coat seal it or coat it a uniform color like a light gray.

That’s fine for a floor. I knew sooner or later something would spill and stain. Using the different colors in a random pattern hides any stains that will occur. I didn’t like the plain grey color. Ghostshield will darken the concrete on its own. Most sealers do darken the concrete a bit.

 

[dcg9381]

Anyone have suggestions? Clear sealer would probably be the cheapest but I like the looks of a uniform color floor but epoxy can get expensive.

Polyurea, hands down. It's a fraction of the cost of epoxy, just as resillient (or more), easier to install. If you want it to look fancy, do a water based stain before applying it. I use it on the shop and I've also used it for residential. It can be slick when wet - you can add an agent for no-slip. See Legacy Industrial (supporting vendor)

The other thing I've used is MMA-6600 which is basically plastic encapsulated in a solvent. It's even less expensive, but I've found that it's not nearly as good as polyurea in areas (outdoor) that get rain... I can't tell you how it will do in a garage environment, but it does make it every easy to wipe oil off a driveway, etc.