Basement Floor Sealing

[kmacisaac]

I'm looking for thoughts on a floor sealing product for my basement floor. Currently it is just concrete floor and undeveloped. I plan to develop it down the road.
As of now, I'd like to seal it to keep the dust down a bit and because we have a puppy on the way in the near future. My wife currently has her office in the basement and the walkout will be the easiest way to get pup outside. In the event of an accident, I'd like to have the floor protected.
Any thoughts or suggestions on a product? Thanks in advance.

[dodgeboy1979]

Garage floor paint will seal it and give it a smooth finish

[BackPackHunter]

If you want to keep costs low, Use exterior paint with the rubber in them.
It kept dust down and for the price wasn't bad, any higher traffic areas will need to keep being redone.

If u r goin to use the area more
Garage floor coating , 2 part rustolum stuff is good

[CaberTosser]

I've done my own mechanical room and some jobsite mechanical room floors with two-part garage floor epoxies available from the big box hardware stores. I even did my cargo trailer floor in it as well which turned out great. The one's I've used were Rustoleum products, including the clearcoat. I've yet to spill anything on them that has affected them (and I've spilled all manner of things on them)

[kmacisaac]

I like the idea of a clear coat product. I should have mentioned that in the first place. I have done the wife's office floor with a colored paint but we like the idea of keeping the main area clear. We have in floor radiant heating, so we may keep an exposed floor with what ever developing we do down the road.

[Sundancefisher]

Absolutely don't paint. It is too topical and flake off over time.

Use a good quality clear concrete sealer. I used a Behr product that worked great. I used a floor squeegee to spread it around. I applied liberally then leave it soak in as per instructions. Then apply again let soak in and repeat until no more soaks in.

Now if is sealed from moisture wicking up through the concrete and makes any spill or mess clean up without soaking in.

Don't paint.

[Newview01]

The most important part of whatever you do will be to prepare properly. Grind or acid wash. Without one or the other it will be a futile effort.

[CaberTosser]

The most important part of whatever you do will be to prepare properly. Grind or acid wash. Without one or the other it will be a futile effort.

X2. if anything lean towards over-prepping for an epoxy coat. They come supplied with a bag of concrete etch which is probably just a citric acid powder. You need to spray that on and let it work, I would probably degrease and clean prior to that with a TSP solution and a stiff deck brush. Shop-vac, rinse, then shop vac again. The clear-coat is spendy though, more so than the grey or tan epoxy. I put the clearcoat down over the optional color chips that are included, in my trailer I put a lot of traction agent in the clearcoat.

For my own mech room I used a surfacing wheel on a grinder and wet-ground the entire floor, taking care to grade it all to the floor drain on the few spots that were questionable. Kind of ironic I suppose as I would think my own mechanical room would have less likelihood of a leak than most others....

[Nayr]

Did the garage with a clear concrete sealer and then paint. Make sure concrete is clean before applying sealer, wash and dry it. Bought mine at home hardware. Can use just sealer if you want, it's clear and will give it a slight wet look.