Concrete garage floor sealers / coatings

Darwins Child

I want to apply a coating that is waterproof to the lowest portion of our garage floor. This area collects melted road-snow/sand/salt during the winter and, consequently the salt water "spalled" several spots in the concrete in that area. I have now filled them in using QuiKrete sand topping mix and ground down their surfaces to level with the surrounding area of the floor.

The conditions on the floor from Edmonton's long, harsh winter are, again, the salt, but also the sand which of course acts like an abrasive on the concrete and will certainly do so on whatever great-looking coating / sealer is put on the floor. Occasionally it gets cold enough in the garage to freeze the puddle, so there's a freeze / thaw cycle to also consider.

The tires of our Outlander will of course grind the road sand into / onto whatever is on the floor. This is why I'm leaning more toward some kind of sealer / water-proofer that after application may not look any different than the concrete, but will prevent the salt water puddle that inevitably forms in that area from penetrating the surface of the concrete and once again causing spalling.

Because of its inherent resilience, proven ruggedness, as well as waterproofing ability, I'm even seriously considering coating the collection area with some kind of asphalt product, or, possibly, even a membrane that is somehow adhered to the floor.

I'd rather not have to re-coat every year, so this is also why I'm thinking more simple protection that's very easy to re-apply should I have to do that.

I'm also considering doing nothing but applying some kind of sealer to the surface of the individual patches themselves to protect the raw concrete and, in the future, simply repair any new spalls that appear.

So I have a questions only for you folks in the snow belt.

1. What do you have on the surface of your concrete floor?

2. How long has it been there?

3. Has it protected the concrete?

4. How did the floor-coating look after one or more winters?

5. If you had it to do over, would you apply the same coating again?

6. If not, what will you apply next time, if anything?

Thanks very much for any advice.