Sealing your garage floor has many benefits, especially when you choose the right sealer. The three most common types of garage floor sealers are silicate concrete sealers, silane siloxane concrete sealers, and acrylic sealers. Epoxy and urethane coatings are alternatives to sealers, and are discussed below.

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Silicate sealers are used to increase the strength of the concrete and reduce dusting caused by surface abrasion, Silane-Siloxane sealers are used to repel surface water and reduce staining and deterioration caused by the absorption of water, and acrylic sealers are designed to enhance the surface and protect it against staining, deterioration, and hot tire pickup.

There is no wrong choice when it comes to choosing a garage floor sealer because they all offer a great set of benefits. A good rule of thumb to follow is that sealers reduce and coatings stop. Sealers are great for reducing issues and preventing problems, but coatings are great for stopping issues and ending problems. If you still aren’t sure which garage sealer is best, consider the following:

• What do you want your garage floor to look like once sealed? If you like the look of bare concrete then you want a silicate sealer or a silane siloxane sealer. If you don’t like the look or bare concrete and want a wet look, gloss, or colored finish then you want an acrylic sealer.
• Are you having issues with dusting? If yes, you can use a silicate sealer to reduce dusting or an acrylic sealer to stop dusting.
• Are you having issues with staining? If yes, you can use a silane siloxane sealer to reduce staining or an acrylic sealer to stop staining.
• Is your concrete in great shape but you want a preventative sealer? If yes, you can use a silane siloxane water repellent sealer.

The above types of sealers are great, but sealers do have their limitations as well.

• Do concrete sealers stop oil stains? Silicate sealers and silane siloxane sealers won’t stop oil stains, but acrylic sealers will – to a point. If oil is cleaned immediate after spilled, the acrylic sealer may not be impacted by exposure to the oil. If the oil is left on the acrylic sealer for an extended period of time, the oil will cause the acrylic to soften and the acrylic will stain. For complete protection against oil you want an aliphatic urethane concrete coating.
• Do concrete sealers stop hot tire pickup? Silicate sealers and silane siloxane sealers won’t stop hot tire pickup, but acrylic sealers will – to a point. Hot tire pickup is caused when hot rubber melts off the tire and onto the surface where the car sits. You can’t stop rubber from coming off the tire unless you were to rinse your tires off with cold water before pulling into the garage. The acrylic sealer will protect the concrete from staining, but the acrylic sealer will absorb the rubber. Aliphatic Urethane coatings will the easiest type of coating to clean, but hot tire pickup can’t be stopped completely.
• Do concrete sealers stop transmission fluid stains? No. The only thing that can stop transmission fluid is an aliphatic urethane concrete coating.
• Do concrete sealers top damage caused by road salts? Silicate sealers will reduce damage caused by abrasion, silane siloxane sealers will reduce damage caused by water absorption, and acrylic sealers will stop damage caused by road salts.
• Are concrete sealers slippery? Silicate sealers and silane siloxane sealers are not, but acrylic sealers can be slippery when wet. If this is a concern, consider a non slip additive if an acrylic sealer is going to be used.

When you read a concrete sealer review you will often read things like, “it didn’t work” or “it didn’t stop”. In many cases ,the sealer wasn’t the issue. The issue had to do with the application, or a misunderstanding of how a sealer is supposed to function and what it is capable of doing. We are here to demystify listings:

• When a sealer says that it will reduce something then it will, but it can’t provide any guarantee as to how much. Take for example concrete dusting. Sodium silicate concrete sealers are said to reduce dusting, and they do. How much the sealer will reduce dusting however can’t be predicted. Silicate sealers chemically react with the free lime and calcium in the concrete. Results will vary depending on how much free lime and calcium is available in the pores, the size of the pores, the amount of sealer applied, and the conditions in which the sealer was applied. Depending on the severity of the dusting you may need 1-4 coats before a reduction is visible. Another example would be a reduction in deterioration caused by water absorption. While water repellent sealers reduce absorption, they don’t stop it and concrete is still exposed on a surface level. Damage and deterioration will still happen, just slower.
• When a sealer says it can stop something then it will, but a manufacturer and a consumer have different interpretations of this means. If an acrylic sealer says that it stops hot tire pickup then what they mean is it will stop hot tire pickup from staining the concrete because the acrylic will take the abuse instead of the concrete. Hot tire pickup is caused from hot rubber coming off a tire and bonding to the surface where it rests. The rubber has to go somewhere so if the car is on concrete it will go on concrete, if the rubber is on acrylic then it will go onto the acrylic. Same goes with oil stains. Acrylic sealers will stop oil stains from hitting the concrete, but oil can cause an acrylic sealer to soften if left on the acrylic for an extended period of time. If a coating says it will stop something then it will stop something from happening to the concrete. The coating will take the abuse so that the concrete won’t.

An alternative to garage floor sealers, are garage floor coatings. Coatings are stronger than sealers and provide more of a guarantee when it comes to resistance and protection.

• Epoxy Concrete Coatings
• Urethane Concrete Coatings