Sealed concrete costs $1.31 to $3.42 per square foot installed with us. Penetrating sealers are the low end at $1.23 to $1.47. They go on in one or two coats and need no topcoat. Topical sealers run $1.99 to $2.14, because they build a film one coat at a time. A two-car garage (500 SF) runs $800 to $1,900 before the drive cost, which is our trip to your site. A small floor costs more per foot than the range above, because setup spreads over fewer feet.
Most of that spread comes from the chemistry, not the contractor. Pick the wrong sealer and the price you paid stops mattering by the second winter.
How much does sealed concrete cost? $1.31 to $3.42 per square foot
| Sealer Type | Coats | Price Range (per SF) | Recommended For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penetrating silane/siloxane | 1 | $1.23 | Garage floors, driveways, exterior flatwork |
| Penetrating silicate densifier | 2 | $1.47 | Older or porous slabs, pre-polish prep |
| Topical acrylic (matte to gloss) | 2 | $1.99 | Stained interior floors, decorative sheen |
| Topical polyurethane | 2 | $2.14 | High-traffic commercial, chemical exposure |
The range at the top counts setup, so it runs higher than any one sealer rate in this table.
One more line sits outside the table. A slab with heavy oil, grease, or years of dripped fluids adds $1.16 per square foot for degreasing. No sealer bonds through that mess, and getting it out is real labor. Shop floors and older garages are the usual ones that need it.
Why is sealing so much cheaper than epoxy or polished concrete?
A sealer is one material. We clean the slab, put the sealer on, and the job is done. Epoxy and polished concrete both add slow, hands-on steps that sealing skips: grinding, base coats, decorative flake, or a polish that takes many passes.
With a sealer, the chemistry does the work. A coating or a polish is chemistry plus many more hours on your floor, and hours are what you pay for.
What affects sealed concrete cost?
Six things move the number. Here they are, roughly from biggest to smallest.
Sealer chemistry decides most of the price. Everything from $1.23 to $2.14 is the same crew, the same careful prep, and the same day of work. What changes is what goes in the sprayer and how many times it goes on. A penetrating sealer soaks in and reacts inside the tiny pores of the concrete. When it’s done, the slab still looks like bare concrete, and there’s no film to wear off. One heavy coat usually does it, or two on older, thirsty concrete. A topical sealer builds a film on top in thin coats, and each coat has to dry before the next one goes on. That film is what gives you shine and stands up to chemicals. More coats mean more labor and more waiting. Neither one is the upgrade. They solve different problems, and your slab and what it faces decide which problem you have. Outside slabs that freeze and thaw are the clearest case for a penetrating sealer.
Square footage works the way it does in every trade. Setup spreads across a bigger floor, so the price per foot drops as the job grows.
Surface condition decides how much work happens before the sealer. A clean, sound slab needs a wash. A slab with oil stains, a white chalky crust (efflorescence), or an old sealer that failed needs that cleared off first.
Number of coats comes from the chemistry. It’s the reason topical work costs more than penetrating work on the same size floor.
Inside or outside narrows the choices. Outside, where the slab freezes and thaws, it needs a sealer that breathes. If it can’t breathe, trapped water pushes the film off within a couple of seasons. We’ve stripped enough peeled film off outside slabs to steer hard toward a penetrating sealer anywhere the weather gets a say.
The drive cost is its own line on your quote. We figure it from your project address, and it isn’t folded into the square-foot rate.
Ask which sealer you're being quoted before you compare bids
A box-store sealer job and a pro job can look like the same line on a bid. The prices are far apart, and they're rarely the same product. Roll a topical sealer over a damp slab, or one that wasn't ground open first, and it will peel within a season. Water gets trapped under the film. A penetrating sealer needs the same clean, open surface, or it won't soak in either. Get the sealer and the prep plan in writing before you compare numbers. A vague answer usually means a vague price.
Penetrating sealer: what it costs and what it does
A penetrating sealer runs $1.23 to $1.47 per square foot. Silane/siloxane is the low end. A silicate densifier, which also hardens the slab from the inside, is the high end.
Neither one puts a layer on your floor. They react inside the concrete and tighten up its pores, so water, oil, and road salt can’t soak in. Afterward the slab looks like a slab, maybe a shade darker. Nothing will peel, because nothing is sitting on top to peel.
That’s why penetrating sealers last 5 to 10 years. It’s also why they’re the usual pick for garage floors, driveways, and anything out in the weather.
When is a topical sealer worth the extra money?
A topical sealer runs $1.99 to $2.14 per square foot. Acrylic is the low end, and polyurethane is the high end.
You buy a topical sealer for what it does on the surface, not inside the slab. Acrylic locks in stain color and gives you a matte to glossy shine. That’s why we put it over decorative inside floors. Polyurethane is tougher and stands up to chemicals. It belongs on commercial floors that see forklifts, cleaners, or spills.
The tradeoff is how long it lasts. A film wears from the top down, so a topical sealer lasts 1 to 3 years, depending on traffic and sun. We write the reseal timing into your project paperwork, so it isn’t a guess two years from now.
Sealing prices in other markets
Labor rates swing 10 to 20% from one market to the next. That’s the whole difference from place to place. The sealer itself costs about the same everywhere, because the makers price pro-grade sealers the same no matter who’s buying. The national market for this work runs about the same or higher, roughly $1.50 to $4 per square foot.
Climate matters more to the price than location does. A slab that freezes, thaws, and bakes in the sun all summer can only take certain sealers. That limit sets the number more than your zip code does.
What’s in a sealing bid
Included in our price:
- Cleaning and degreasing the surface
- A check of the slab, plus a moisture test when that check shows a warning sign or you ask for one
- Grinding to open up the surface (called profiling) on slabs that need it
- 1 or 2 coats of sealer, and putting it on
- The drive cost inside our normal service area, shown as its own line
Not included:
- Crack or spall repair (spall is where the top of the slab flakes off). We quote it separately through concrete repair and resurfacing.
- Removing a failed old coating beyond normal prep
- Heavy contamination past normal degreasing, which adds $1.16 per square foot
How do you get an accurate sealing quote?
The online quote tool gives you a ballpark in about 2 minutes. Tell it the square footage and what the floor has to live through, and it sizes the job.
Call (888) 852-3528 for a big commercial floor, or if you want to talk through penetrating versus topical before you decide. That call takes five minutes. On this kind of work, good advice is worth more than a number.
Why do sealing bids vary between contractors?
On sealing work, checking the slab is most of the job. Putting the sealer on is the easy part. That’s why skipping the check is the easiest corner to cut without getting caught. Two crews can bid the same slab, the same size, and the same number of coats. One of them checked that the concrete was dry enough to hold a film. The other one guessed. You won’t find out which one guessed until the next wet season. So read a bid for names, not big words. A real bid names the sealer and how long it should last. If a bid can’t name the product, it can’t promise how long it lasts, and “commercial-grade sealer” is not a product. The same habit behind Pour-4-Polish works here on a small scale. We check moisture and the surface before we pick the chemistry, not after the film starts lifting.
Is sealing worth it compared to leaving the slab bare?
Bare concrete is a sponge. It soaks up oil, road salt, and water. Where winters freeze and thaw, it’s the soaked-in water, not the cold air, that pops the top of the slab off in sheets. Once that starts, you’re not pricing a sealer anymore.
Sealing is the cheapest finish we offer. It’s also the only one whose main job is to stop a bill, not to improve a look. Even if you reseal a topical sealer every 1 to 3 years, that costs far less than a full overlay or a new pour.
Seal it before it needs help, not after.
Related pages
- Sealed concrete services: the sealer types, how we check a slab, and project photos
- Polished concrete cost: the lasting finish with no reseal cycle
- Concrete staining cost: the color step that a sealer locks in
Online pricing, right now
Tell us your square footage and what you need the sealer to do. We'll tell you which sealer fits and what it costs. No obligation, and most projects need no site visit.
