Concrete Designs

Choosing the right concrete sealer for your garage floor is important.  A garage floor needs to be properly protected so it can stand up to harsh elements like chemicals, oil, water, and deicing agents. If left unsealed, these can seep into the concrete itself, eventually causing it to decompose from the inside out, and leaving you with ugly flaking, peeling, or cracking on the concrete surface.

Option 1:

There are two main sealers to choose from when it comes to garage floors. The first is a penetrating sealer. This type of sealer penetrates the concrete surface and forms a gel which fills in any pores or cracks inside the concrete. This gel prevents moisture or other elements on the surface from seeping in, and it also prevents water vapor from rising up from underneath the concrete and getting into the floor. Penetrating sealers are invisible and dry very quickly.

Option 2:

Film form sealers are the other option. These types of sealers create a film on the surface of the concrete that prevents any element from absorbing into the floor. This sealer will also highlight and darken the color shades of your concrete surface, making it ideal for decorative concrete applications. You may need to apply a non-skid additive along with a film form sealer since they can become slippery when wet. The film form sealers come in different levels of sheen, are easy to apply and dry quickly.

Make sure your garage floor is properly sealed to ensure it will withstand the elements and remain a long-lasting part of your home. For more information, check out this New Jersey concrete supply company.

Keywords: sealants, sealer, sealers, green, sealing

What are the factors that determine a sealing product is green? It must be made from materials and processes that do minimal damage to the environment. In addition, green sealers must prevent the gases and compounds of the material they are being applied to from seeping out, escaping or becoming part of the environment as well. The benefits of using these types of sealers are simple: they protect the environment a nd the people who will be living around the products that are sealed with them.

Xtreme Concrete Countertop Products

Knowing the End Product’s Purpose

When choosing a sealer, it is important to consider where the sealed product will be installed and what it will be used for. For concrete kitchen countertops, for instance, the sealer that is selected must be labeled as food grade to prevent contamination and illness to the people exposed to its residue on a rotating, continual basis.

Factor in the Upkeep/Maintenance Needs

Ideally, the sealant would last forever. Realistically, most will need to be reapplied, but how often and how soon after initial installation is determined by the product that is selected, its application method and the environment in which it is used.

Water-Based Sealants

Most of the sealants that qualify as green are water-based, meaning that they are much more user friendly and don’t contain toxic VOC’s – Volatile Organic Compounds,  this will sometimes cause a longer dry and cure time but is hardly a reason not to choose them.

What the Client Wants

When choosing the sealant that is right for you or your customer, you must keep in mind the final appearance, the upkeep that they will be willing to do and the replacement costs as well.

Colormaker is a company that has made its mark in the decorative concrete industry.  The company is one of our suppliers here at Concrete Ideas, and we are proud to be associated with them.

Colormaker uses a wide variety of concrete primers, toppings, sealers, finishes, and, of course, as their name denotes, an array of colors.  They have worked on many unique and artistic projects creating flooring that works as a foundation, a focal point or an enhancement to either new or existing floors.

There are many ways that they use their products and techniques to make floors a work of art.  There are many ways that concrete is used as flooring, and many ways that existing – even older, faded or stained – concrete can be made to look totally new and different by using the techniques that Colormaker is expert at.

For instance, colors and finishes can be used on plain, old, gray concrete to transform a floor – and the room it is the foundation of – into a unique, new, creative and artistic base for a room, be it a basement in a home, a lobby in a hotel or a boutique.

Colormaker is constantly searching and testing new ways to treat and create concrete.  One of the company’s feature products is called Pentimento, which is a topping based on Italian methods, but using the most modern ingredients which creates the look of polished marble.

In addition to the products and techniques that Colormaker uses, the company also offers workshops to help people explore the possibilities for working with concrete.  If you live in the British Columbia area and are looking for great ideas and great work involving concrete, contact Colormaker.  Their ideas will open up innovative ideas to build into whatever area you are trying to transform. Contact Colormaker or call them at 604-244-3122.