A few weeks ago, I poured 3 concrete patios (totaling 700 sqft), which have a broom finish. I want to seal them to protect from water/freeze and thaw, ice melt salts (in Wisconsin), and potentially occasional oil/grease drips from either grilling, or occasionally parking on one or two of them (6” of 5000 psi mix w/rebar and proper base prep).

I “think” I want a solvent-based penetrating sealer, but only because it “sounds like” that’s the highest quality product class, in general.

What have you used with good results? I don’t want cheap/poor quality, but I’d like to not spend a small fortune either. If Ghostshield Siloxa—Tek 8510 wasn’t so expensive, it sounds like a winner, but not at $750/pail! I’m also seeing Prosoco solvent based, and a few others. But it’s all French to me!

Siloxane was what I used on my driveway. It’s solvent based. It’s what all the contractors told me to use when I used to deliver concrete. I don’t remember the brand but that stuff was expensive. I just chose a brand in stock near me, paid, cried, and did the driveway. I know it’s recommended you redo it every 2-3 years. Not for me, it worked well, it’s just too expensive. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.

I also used a Siloxane, acetone carrier product, 5 gallon buckets were about $250 ea iirc. Worked great, and is still working.

However, I used a water based Siloxane on my cement front porch, and it has held up very well whenever thunderstorms roll in with sideways rain. My guess is if your concrete is brand new, a water based Siloxane sealer would be just as good, and by doing so you could avoid investing in a charcoal activated breathing system. A good one from 3M is not cheap, if you get the nice one that covers your whole face including your eyes. Spraying 5 gallons of pure Acetone is not healthy.

When I sprayed my back cement deck with the Acetone product, I did it when the neighbor kids were in school, it's that bad, and lingers for a day or two until the concrete outgasses all that acetone.

When I do it again I will try a water based version.

I had concrete done a few weeks ago. They did an exposes aggregate for me. The sealer used was ChemMasters Polyseal EZ in Honey Brown. The coloration really just brought it back to what it looked like when wet.

We always used a product called Cure 'n Seal on garage floors and slabs. You want the stuff with VOCs though it is not legal to sell in some states.

^ That was probably the second most suggested product by my contractors.

I used Cure and Seal as well when we did garage floors. Sometimes basements.

I'd recommend contacting Sika as they produce a slew of concrete related solutions and can recommend the best one for your application. While they have products for Residential, much of their product lines are for commercial or industrial applications. I have used them numerous times in a professional capacity with zero issues.

Places like Home Depot will have the "consumer" stuff available, but you really need to go to a concrete supply company to get the good stuff and most should have staff on hand knowledgeable enough to point you to the correct product. Based on what you mentioned for protecting your concrete from salt, etc. you really need to talk to a professional because there are products targeted specifically for that type of environment. However, as a general rule, SALT is one of the worst things in the world for concrete, period.

Thanks for the ideas guys! I ended up going with a “Tri-Siloxane” solvent-based product called TK 290 which was recommended by a couple concrete specialty supply houses. Evidently the super-premium Siloxa-Tek Ghostshield 8510 really is amazing stuff, but the TK 290 is supposed to check many of the same boxes for $180 (5-gallon pail) vs $750 for the 8510. I should have excellent water/freeze/salt/chemical protection, but had to give up the oil stain rating, though it should still do “OK” on that. Hoping to get it laid down this weekend!

No worries with oil stains unless you're changing your oil regularly in your driveway.