If there is a bare concrete floor in your home or basement, your family’s health is at risk from silica exposure. Every time a person walks on the floor or a child drags a toy truck, it grinds away millions of tiny particles of the concrete surface. Children playing on the floor will breathe in more of the concrete dust.
In shops and factories, the sharp particles of concrete dust not only put the workers at risk but also damage machinery, which is much tougher than human lungs.
The Health Risks of Concrete Dust
Concrete and concrete blocks are made with sand and gravel which contain “free” silica, or crystalline silica. Fine particles of crystalline silica are abraded from the surface and released into the air we breathe. The most common silica particles are quartz, while the other two forms are cristobalite and tridymite. Mortar and stucco also release silica dust.
Many cements contain other hazardous substances like lime, nickel, cobalt, and chromium compounds. Alkaline substances are corrosive to human tissues and small amounts of chromium can cause allergic reaction.
Concrete dust may irritate the nose, throat, and respiratory tract by mechanical abrasion, causing coughing, sneezing, and shortness of breath. Concrete dust may cause chronic bronchitis or aggravate pre-existing lung disease such as emphysema, bronchitis, and asthma.
After prolonged exposure, respirable concrete dust can cause severe damage to human lungs. Crystalline silica has been classified as a human lung carcinogen. In addition, it can cause silicosis, which is incurable. More commonly, silica dust causes the formation of scar tissue in the lungs, reducing their ability to take in oxygen.
How to Seal Concrete against Dusting
There are two alternative solutions:
- Paint the concrete surface with acrylic, urethane, or epoxy
- Seal the concrete with RadonSeal® Penetrating Concrete Sealer
Paints and coatings protect the surface against abrasion but are quite expensive, form a slippery surface, and have a limited life. Epoxies and urethanes trap all water vapor oozing through the concrete and after a few years, they will bubble, crack, or peel.
RadonSeal Penetrating Concrete Sealer reacts chemically with the surface and hardens it “flint-hard,” which basically eliminates concrete dusting. This is in addition to RadonSeal strengthening the concrete and sealing it internally against water, vapor, and gases. It does not make the surface slippery, does not change its appearance, and it remains paintable.
RadonSeal Concrete Sealer is the effective, permanent, and inexpensive solution to stop concrete dusting in your home.