Concrete Floor Coatings 101: Know the Basics

A concrete floor coating is an easy way to extend the life of any concrete floor that counts you as its caretaker. Commonly, this means garage floor coatings. But basements, workshops, stores, and any other environment with a concrete floor can benefit from its own concrete floor coating.

Which type of concrete floor coating is best for you depends on what kinds of use your concrete floor is usually put to. Below, we’ll shed some light on which coatings are generally for which floors.

The term “concrete floor coating ” is a broad term that includes (mostly) paints, sealers, and finishes. 

Concrete floor paints are mostly for floors that don’t take a lot of abuse. A concrete floor paint will help to prevent moisture penetration and will provide some measure of temporary sealing of cracks but, usually, you want to reapply a concrete floor paint once or twice every year.

A concrete floor sealant is most commonly the right place to start. These products can protect against impact, heat, and even some bacteria. They can also reinforce crumbling concrete to stop damage in its tracks. Sometimes, a concrete floor sealant will end up being a quarter-inch thick; when it is, you can use it to even out uneven floors. 

If your concrete-floored room is open to the public–say if you’re a mechanic or metalworker–you’ll probably want to spend the money and time to have a concrete floor finish applied over your sealant. We’ve all been in those workshops with concrete floors that are so clean and smooth that we find ourselves wondering if any real work goes on around them. Obviously, a certain amount of routine cleaning is required to achieve that effect, but so is a concrete floor finish. 

A finish is the most authoritative concrete floor coating; it seals the sealer, preventing as much damage and need for maintenance as anything can. This is a small job that can make a big difference.

The most important thing to know about concrete floor textures and colors is that you can have any of them you want. That is, your favorite concrete floor texture you ever saw as a customer probably didn’t happen by accident; they probably made it look that way carefully before moving any furniture or merchandise into the room. 

Frankly, there are so many options when it comes to concrete floor textures and colors that it can often be helpful to talk with a professional, not because it’s so hard to apply them, but because if you don’t work in this field, you stand a good chance of using whatever you find and never making your room look and feel the way you’d really like it to. 

For professional concrete coating , give Fitzpatrick a call! Learn more about what’s involved in applying a garage floor coating, or similar coating to any concrete surface, be it a floor, wall or ceiling. This is one of those maintenance projects that, even though it’s not necessarily difficult, can turn into a waste in the long run if you don’t do it just right.

At Fitzpatrick, we do this all the time and can advise you on all the best practices, products, and looks. We look forward to it!