What Untreated Concrete Does Here
It pits and flakes. Water works in, turns to ice, expands and forces the surface apart. Sarnia hands it dozens of opportunities every winter.
It dusts. Once the surface has gone, it throws off fine grey powder onto everything near it.
It stains permanently, because oil and antifreeze soak in rather than sitting on top.
It grows efflorescence, the white crusty bloom that appears when moisture moves up through a slab and leaves salts behind on the way out. On clay soil that is a common sight here and it is a warning, not a cosmetic issue.
Preparation Is The Whole Job
We diamond grind, always. Acid etching is the single most common reason a coating fails, because it does not open the concrete properly and the resin never keys in.
Cracks get cut out and filled with a repair compound that takes coating rather than a filler that sits proud.
Spalled edges and pitting are rebuilt and ground flat.
We take a moisture reading in the slab and specify the primer from it.
Only then does anything get mixed.
Which Finish On Which Slab
A garage or workshop wants flake for the texture and the forgiveness.
A plant room, storage area or utility space is often fine with a solid colour, which is quicker and cheaper.
Outdoor concrete needs a light-stable polyaspartic with aggregate through it.
A basement depends entirely on the moisture reading, which is why we take it before quoting rather than after.