We had a concrete pad poured about 2 years ago, just outside our back door maybe 6x15’ and around one side of our back porch another 3x10’. Didn’t think about it then, but now realized we should have sealed it.
Anybody have some experience with this? Been looking at some, not sure what would be the easiest to do ourselves, and look decent. Kind of want something not slippery, as that’s where we step out every day, especially in winter, and would like a grey finish, maybe satin, or look like a rock finish? Would appreciate input, thanks.

Siloxane is what I would recommend. It’s what I use on my driveway. I’m not sure if it comes in colors or not.

Thanks 400m, I’ll check it out.

be sure to put some Shark Grip or some additive that makes it non slippery mixed into the coating...

Link

I use Euclid Everclear on my driveway and back patio. There's nothing good at Home Depot or Lowes, you'll want a builder supply store for the better stuff. Apply with a roller or sprayer.

What’s the finish on the pad? Troweled smooth? Brushed?

If smooth, you will want to etch, so any chosen product will penetrate properly, about 150 grit sandpaper texture

Do you want it to look painted? Retain the concrete colors with a clear? I’d not recommend a “rock type” finish as they retain dirt easily

The shinier the finish, the slipperier it will be

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
What’s the finish on the pad? Troweled smooth? Brushed?

If smooth, you will want to etch, so any chosen product will penetrate properly, about 150 grit sandpaper texture

Do you want it to look painted? Retain the concrete colors with a clear? I’d not recommend a “rock type” finish as they retain dirt easily

The shinier the finish, the slipperier it will be

It is a brushed finish, I guess you call it, not smooth. So it has these lines in it. When they poured it, they did kind of broom it.
I’d kind of like a color to it, so painted look would be ok, but not like a paint if you know what I mean. I did find a texture type of sealer, looked like it might be something we’d like, so that would be good for not being slippery. The one I just found looking is called Tuff Grip, from Home Depot, and it comes in colors, so will have to research some more. Grey is what we’re leaning toward, would match the house more.

And, thank you everybody for the replies!
The Euclid everclear does had a tintable option, but there was a restriction on it for our state, so not sure if it’s locally available, or just a shipping restriction yet. Plus I would have to make sure it’s not slippery vs a more textured surface.

Call one of those companies that do the garage floor coatings .

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
Siloxane is what I would recommend. It’s what I use on my driveway. I’m not sure if it comes in colors or not.

This. I used Siloxane based concrete sealers in both Acetone and Water bases, and both are still working after a long time. It's impressive chemistry. It's not actually a coating, but instead chemically binds with the concrete to prevent water from penetrating all the way through, but also lets the concrete continue to breathe, which is important. There are lots of brands using this technology, any of them with good reviews and reasonable prices should be GTG if you shop around and do your research.

I also used an Acrylic based sealer on some pavers. It had a good reputation but I still don't like the result. There are Siloxane based sealers for brick walls and ground pavers as well, and I should have used a Siloxane.

So I'm sold on Siloxane.

Wrightd, does the siloxane feel slick afterward?
Plus,the siloxane is clear, and we were hoping for a color application also. We might still look into a company to just price that out, haven’t decided yet.
Thanks!

The beauty of Siloxane is it's not a coating, and thus doesn't alter the surface texture, meaning the original roughness remains unaltered. But the rain rolls off the surface, literally. After a while the rain slowly stops rolling off the concrete, but it never really gets wet through and through afterward. Before application when it rains, your concrete darkens as it soaks up the rain. But after siloxane application, it never realty soaks through to the ground. This means that the concrete will last a LOT longer than normal due to otherwise normal freeze-thaw cracking cycles during the winter months. Meaning since water doesn't penetrate, when it freezes the concrete isn't damaged by the expansion of the expanding ice crystals. Water-freeze-thaw cycles is one of the worst contributors to the natural and expected deterioration of concrete over time.

If your project is alter the surface texture for concrete, then a coating is what you want. And there are lots of types of coatings. Epoxy for garage floors, polyurethane and acrylic, but they all have different properties and uses. I've seen coatings, but they're usually under cover, like a nice barbeque or party space outside a sliding or French door leaving the house onto a covered patio, things like that. In that case you don't need siloxane because the concrete is already protected from rain.

But since you want to protect the concrete from natural environmental degradation and also color it, since it sounds like this is a walkway that will receive a normal amount of sun, rain, freezing temps, and maybe sleet and snow, they you definitely want a Siloxane based sealer. Regarding color, you'd have to ask the company who makes the sealer, if you should color the concrete before the sealing operation, since you'd have to make sure the dye used is chemically compatible with the siloxane. I doubt that the color would be applied after a siloxane seal, because the dye would not be able to penetrate the concrete, literally, my guess is would either roll off or create a mess you would have to clean up chemically or otherwise. So just make sure that the coloring and siloxane operations are done in the correct order and are chemically compatible.

Since I've never colored concrete, I can't answer that question.

There are some exceptions however. Once or twice I've seen an extremely high quality colored coating on a sidewalk around a very nice home, and it was quite exquisite. Talking to the owner I also learned it was an expensive custom job by a specialist, and that it wasn't something anyone could do. I don't recall if it was an expoxy or a polyurethane, but it was definitely some type of advanced poly based product, which had been mixed with coloring, and some type of texturing added to keep the surface safe from slipping on it in the rain. However, the owner told me it would eventually need to be replaced, but wasn't sure how that could be done without removing and re-pouring the entire sidewalk.

So unless you're rich or have the coin to do something really super nice like that, I would be thinking about using a siloxane and color job in some order. The siloxane will last about 10 years, I don't know about the color since UV isn't friendly to any color of anything on planet earth. The benefit of this plan is you can always re-do a new application of siloxane after the first one wears out. It's long lasting but not forever. But the benefit is that you WILL be able to reapply after a number of years, INSTEAD of ripping out and pouring a new pads, which eventually everyone will have to do eventually. I'm guessing a properly applied Siloxane, and renewed periodically, could allow your concrete to last, perhaps, a lifetime, other things being equal, like the quality and thickness of the original base and concrete pad pour, type and rating of concrete (like fiber reinforced concrete), and other things I have no idea about when it comes to concrete.

Whatever you do be sure to research it well in advance, since you're looking for color. If you were just going to seal it, a good cleaning followed by a Siloxane treatment would set you up for a decade or so, and when it was time to re-clean and reseal with a fresh silox treatment, your concrete might not look that much older than it did after your first application.

Last thought - when you clean the concrete, use a concrete cleaner followed by a "Tubro" spray head with a pressure washer capable of about 3500 psi. If you use a normal 30 degree spray head (green), it will take you forever. Somehow the physics of a random rotating turbo nozzle makes all the difference.

Like all things in around house and home, surface preparation is somewhere between 99 and 100 percent of the main determination of success, other things being equal. Since Siloxane based products are a little pricey (for larger pads like large pool decks and large driveways), you don't want to be applying it to concrete embedded with dirt and various forms of contaminants, both seen and unseen. Also, after cleaning, the concrete MUST be completely dry though and through, since the Siloxane won't penetrate in the best way if there's any remaining moisture in the matrix. But the manufacturer you choose will have all those instructions for their specific formulation and type of base used to carry the Siloxane chemical into the matrix of the concrete.

It a lot of work but tons of fun if you like doing that kind of work. If you don't there are specialist you can hire to do all of this for you, and the videos I've seen on the net, they do a really nice job. This might be better now that I think of it, because you can't use a regular garden sprayer, if you do it will botch the job. So if you don't have a medium capacity gasoline pressure washer, and a special pump sprayer with the proper rated brass head with rectangular larger-droplet spray pattern etc., you'd still need to buy that equipment if you don't already have it. And if you use a solvent based siloxane instead of a water based (both work well in my experience), you will need some more or less expensive charcoal-based organic vapor protected breathing aparatus, unless you don't mind destroying your lungs and damaging your brain cells. A few years ago I sealed my pool deck with 20 gallons of Acetone based Siloxane sealer, and if I had not protected myself, I shudder to think how I may have hurt myself. If I would do it again I'd use a water based Siloxane sealer instead. IIRC all the videos I watched the contractors were using water based. Naturally a solvent based carrier will penetrate better, but based on my experience I'd take the tradeoff. When I did mine, I started in the morning after our neighbor's kids had left for school, and let them know in advance that Acetone would still be lingering in the air around the house. Chemicals like that are not to be trifled with, particularly over time on a chronic basis.

Another vote for Siloxane. Local radio DIY call in show has promoted it for years. I apply about every five years. I walk through my fifty year old neighborhood and see driveways turned to gravel, mine looks almost new.

Bingo right there, first hand testimony. Outstanding. Five year intervals sounds proactively good. Is your carrier water based?

We used Cure 'n Seal forever but some states have banned selling it because of its VOC content. There are still states where you can buy it and they don't check your truck at the border Prefer it to any water based product.

wrightd, thank you for such a detailed experienced explanation of siloxane. We will definitely check it out, it sounds like it would be something we would like.
Again, we might also check out a service to do it, depending on cost of course, or how difficult it would be to try it ourselves.
We haven’t started looking for a service yet, or getting a product, just kind of waiting for weather to warm up more and dry out a bit.
Really appreciate the insight with your experience, thank you again!

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
Bingo right there, first hand testimony. Outstanding. Five year intervals sounds proactively good. Is your carrier water based?

The brand name I have used is DEFY.
Thanks for the reminder, it's been six or seven years.