A common complaint we hear among new warehouse owners or lessees is that the concrete in their new facility is really dusty. Beyond being annoying and messy, this dusty concrete also poses some unrealized health concerns. The risks of breathing silica dust are real and are widely recognized as something that must be managed and avoided.

What Causes Dusty Concrete

Dusty concrete typically comes from the top layer of the concrete slab. There are a number of causes, but common ones include improper curing, having too much water in the mix, or from impurities such as efflorescence. These conditions can leave you with a dusty top layer of concrete.

The Best Way to Resolve Dusty Concrete

In general, the easiest method for dealing with dusty concrete is to grind the concrete and apply a concrete densifier. A concrete densifier is a liquid chemical that soaks into unsealed concrete, then hardens and strengthens the top layer from the inside out.

Before applying the densifier, it is best practice to do a light grinding of the concrete slab. This concrete grinding does two things: it removes some of the chalky top layer and it opens up the pores of the concrete so the densifier can penetrate fully. While grinding isn’t always absolutely necessary, it’s a good choice if it’s in the budget.

Densifier Benefits

In addition to de-dusting the concrete, a densifier also aids in bonding the top layers of the concrete at the molecular level, which increases the strength and durability of the concrete. This added benefit is ideal for most flooring applications, especially those with heavy traffic. In rarer cases where the flooring only receives light foot traffic, the added strength may not be needed or noticed. For facilities with forklifts or other heavy traffic, a densifier is always going to be a good idea, at least unless an alternative flooring material is used. 

Densifier Alternatives

Numerous alternatives exist for dedusting concrete. Typically these include coatings, sealers, or a polish. 

Concrete Sealers

Concrete sealers are typically either a penetrating sealer or a topical sealer such as an acrylic sealer. Penetrating sealers often have crossover with densifiers and/or may produce similar results. A topical sealer tends to add a gloss or matte finish, however flat sealers are available as well.

Concrete Coatings

There are countless concrete coatings that can be applied that will dedust the concrete in addition to providing other benefits such as waterproofing, chemical resistance, managing slab relative humidity, adding durability, greater cleanability, adding static dissipation and so on. 

Resinous flooring falls into this category. Resinous flooring includes epoxies, polyaspartics, urethane cements, urethanes, hybrid coatings and so on. They all serve different purposes and do different jobs, however nearly all of them will also manage dusty concrete at the same time. 

Concrete Polishing

Polishing concrete is a great way to improve the appearance of concrete at a generally affordable rate. Part of the concrete polishing process included applying a densifier to harden the concrete. This allows for a quality polish. The full process involves grinding the concrete, applying a densifier, then polishing the concrete with progressively finer diamonds to the desired smoothness, then applying a polish guard on top and burnishing it to a glossy finish. In going through the full polishing process, you end up with a concrete slab that has been dedusted along the way.

Concrete Repairs

While you’re dealing with dedusting the concrete, it’s also a good time to consider various concrete repairs such as joint or crack filling, fixing low spots, repairing spalled areas, etc.

Call a Concrete Expert

General Industrial Flooring is an expert in providing all of the services mentioned in this article. We specialize in resinous flooring installation and concrete restoration and can walk you through all the options for repairing and finishing your concrete slab. We’d be happy to perform a site visit and put together an estimate for your project. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

(303) 762-1600