How To Tell If Your Concrete Can Take A New Coating

How Do I Know If My Existing Concrete Is Suitable For A New Coating?  

Your concrete is telling you a story—if you know how to read it. We dive into the real-world signals that reveal whether your slab is ready for a new coating, from subtle surface scaling to deeper structural clues. Newer slabs often breeze through prep, while older driveways, garages, and patios show wear patterns like exposed aggregate, efflorescence, and oil saturation that need smart fixes. We break down how moisture vapor transmission undermines coatings, how to identify and mitigate it, and which primers and systems can stand up to challenging conditions.

Cracks get special attention because they rarely stop at the surface. We explain why fractures typically run through the full thickness of the slab, how water intrusion accelerates erosion beneath, and what that means for movement, settlement, and long-term durability. You’ll hear practical approaches for crack repair, when lifting methods come into play, and how the right coating or sealer complements structural fixes. For stained, “gnarly” floors, we share proven tactics: selective degreasers, poultice treatments, mechanical profiling, and specialty primers that restore adhesion even on compromised substrates.

We also confront the slow, steady damage from magnesium chloride road salts. Cars carry de-icers into garages and onto driveways, where chemistry quietly erodes the cement paste. Our take: act early with penetrating sealers outside and durable coating systems inside to stop the decay before it spreads. By the end, you’ll have a checklist to evaluate your concrete, choose the right prep, and protect the surface for years. If you found this helpful, subscribe, share with a friend who’s eyeing a floor makeover, and leave a quick review to help others discover the show.

To learn more about Mile High Coatings visit:
https://www.MileHighCoatings.com
Mile High Coatings
970-314-1023 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Mile High Coatings Podcast, where we elevate your spaces to a new peak in quality. Hosted by David Naniga, president of Mile High Coatings, this podcast explores how expert residential painting, concrete coatings, and epoxy flooring can transform garages, basements, patios, and commercial spaces across Colorado's front range. So grab your favorite beverage, sit back, and dive into the world of high-quality coatings.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Thinking about upgrading your concrete, learn how to tell if your floor is ready for a fresh new coating. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer in the studio with David Nanaga, president of Mile High Coatings. David, again, it's great to be with you.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Likewise. Hey Julie, how are you doing?

Is Your Concrete Ready To Coat

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Oh, hanging in there. How about you, David? So, David, if we could break it down for your listeners, how can someone know if their existing concrete is suitable for a new coating?

Scaling And Aggregate Exposure

Moisture And Efflorescence

Oil, Grease, And Priming Solutions

Why Cracks Really Matter

SPEAKER_02 1:06

First and foremost, anything relatively new, you know, a new, you know, if it's a house within the last, you know, I don't know, say 10 years, um, I'd say probably a 99% chance that the concrete's gonna be, you know, in good enough shape. So for older concrete, um, there can be certainly a number of issues. You you you tend to see deterioration from magnesium chloride, um, which causes scaling um to where it kind of looks like that top, that that cream layer um is sort of peeling off and it exposes um kind of a crumbly, rocky, bumpy texture to where you see the aggregate, which for people that that aren't sure what aggregate is, aggregate is basically just the the little pebbles or rocks in the concrete that that that hold the cement together. And so so you have different levels of aggregate. You have fine aggregate, medium aggregate, and then deeper down in the concrete you have your coarse aggregate. And so a lot of times, um, you know, over time for for various reasons, it could be freeze thaw, you know, moisture issues, um, that top layer of of paste or cement or cap, uh, sometimes different terms that that are used can can peel off and and expose that aggregate. And then from there, um, you start to get into potential issues of of adhesion, you know, for for coating. And so ideally, you know, you you'd want to um start protecting the concrete before it gets to that point. And so it's probably always worth a look. Um sometimes it can be you know, sometimes if it's not bad, it's it's not too bad, you know, if it's if it's spot areas, it can be patched, um, repaired, and and you know, and and then you know you can move forward with with sealing or coating it or whatever. And so um the other the other issue to kind of look out for is uh you know moisture, uh uh vapor transmission. And so that's basically moisture coming through the concrete. Obviously, concrete is a porous uh material, and so it allows vapor transmission to come up through the ground. And so sometimes, sometimes it's very obvious you can see that through uh efflorescence, which basically where the moisture uh reacts um and pushes up like calcium chloride like through the concrete, and you can see like a whitish tone, almost like a powder um in your concrete. Uh a lot of times you see that outdoors for for whatever reason. And I'm not 100% sure why that might be the case, maybe outdoors as being you're just more exposed to the elements. Um, but for whatever reason, you tend to see that sometimes on vertical, um, you know, foundation flats or um, and then obviously in horizontal um areas like patios and and and porches and everything where you get kind of a powdery film. So so we have ways that we can uh mitigate that too. And then, you know, sometimes people think that, oh, um, maybe, maybe the it's an old shop or an old garage and the concrete is just old and beat up, and maybe there's a bunch of grease and oil stains and just whatever other types of stains all through the concrete, and they think, oh, there's no way this can be coated. But we we can, you know, we we've done we've done some pretty uh pretty gnarly uh mechanics types of shops, um, automotive uh types of shops where there's a lot of oil and grease and and and we can we have different ways of of of you know removing the oil and grease. Um and there there's even products that that we can use to prime over uh potentially oily or or greasy substrate that that'll still um allow us to to coat the floor and and you know uh so that we don't have issues of peeling or or whatever. So um so yeah, I I think I think in most cases it's worth it's worth having us look, you know, to see you know how how bad or not bad you know is is the substrate um and can it be coded.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

And what are the consequences for not having upkeep and not uh you know upgrading your concrete other than aesthetics? Like what is the damage that we're not seeing happening?

Road Salts And Long-Term Damage

Early Protection And Sealers

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Cracks are always an issue that that that that people call us about or ask us about. And so, you know probably the easiest way to maybe not the easiest way, but what one analogy I guess you could use, you know, obviously a slab is is a a typical residential slab, you know, let's say a driveway or a garage floor, it's usually going to be around four inches thick. And so that slab of concrete is just sitting on earth, you know. It's hopefully it's been packed down and they prep it, prep the surface, the the you know, the the dirt underneath and and give give us, you know, a good substrate, um, and then they pour the concrete. So ultimately it's still just earth. Um, and and here in Colorado we have really expansive soils, meaning that um the the earth underneath moves and braids, sinks, whatever you want to call it. And so um, and and that's that's just something that you know we we can't control. Um and so you know, if that happens and say say you get some sinking um or you get a big crack, um, you know, there's ways to lift up the concrete, which which we don't do. Um, you know, there there uh like m mud jacking is a turn um to where where they can you you can lift up the slab. But related to the crack, um so we can repair cracks and and and we do repair cracks a lot, but if water gets down into that crack, so so that this is where I was gonna go with with my analogy. If you think about it like uh a cracker or a cookie, you know, you if that if you break a cracker or cookie, you know, or crack it, you don't crack just you know the top half of it. A lot of times people think that, you know, you just oh that crack only goes down halfway into the concrete. I'd almost guarantee you that the crack actually goes through the whole slab. You can't just like halfway break break the slab. If if you see a crack, it's broken all the way through. And a lot of times, if it's an outdoor, say patio or whatever, and you have, you know, you can visibly see the side of the the edge of the slab, you can follow that crack and and see that the the crack goes vertically down all the way through the slab. And so the point of that is that, you know, obviously if that water goes gets down and goes through through the crack and on under the into the ground, it can cause erosion. Not always, but it can. If there's enough, you know, if the crack is big enough, if there's enough water intrusion down there, it can cause erosion and then cause that slab to sink down even further. And so so that's maybe, I guess, a super long answer to your question of maybe what's something that's that's not seen um or or maybe unseen. But what one of the causes of concrete deterioration is magnesium chloride, which I've meant mentioned previously. And those are the road salts that get used or the de-icing salts that get used in the winter. They spray them on the roads, on the highways, and whatever. And then you know, your vehicle picks it up and you park in your driveway or your garage, all the stuff melts off and it just sits there and just slowly eats away. And with enough repeated exposure, um, you know, that breaks down the that top layer of concrete and causes pitting and scaling and and potentially spalling. And so that's more of a slow build, kind of the slow um issue that you can see, but it's it happens relatively slowly over the maybe the course of a few years. So um, so we have, you know, if you have a new slab or a relatively a slab that's in relatively good condition, it might be prudent to um, you know, on a driveway at least put a put a sealer on there, you know, like a penetrating type sealer that's gonna help prevent that that uh salt attack.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Okay, thank you, David, so much. That was really a great uh breakdown of what's going on with uh the coatings and when we need to do something. We always appreciate your advice. Okay, David, thanks again, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

All right, sounds great. Thanks, Julie.

Closing And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Thanks for tuning in to the Mile High Coatings Podcast. Ready to give your space a fresh, durable finish? Visit MileHighCodings.com for a free price quote or call 970-314-1023. At Mile High Coatings, we're not just painting walls, we're setting a new peak in quality. Until next time, keep your standards high and your coatings higher.