Are you interested in Dry Shake Concrete Hardeners?

Concrete Floors and Cementious Finishes

Sika helps owners, designers and project managers select and install the right floors and cementitious finishes.
One of the most critical steps in preparing a new construction facility or renovating/repurposing a building is the concrete floor. Failure to provide an appropriate work surface can adversely affect the profitability and safety of the business operations.

Sika provides a full range concrete and cementitious products and accessory products to help you design,install and finish a concrete floor that is best for your application.
Our support team is available to help you through the construction process.

Applying dry shake aggregate floor hardeners on freshly placed concrete
Image: Mechanical spreading of Sikafloor®-2 SynTop dry shake hardener on fresh concrete.

Classification of Dry Shake Hardeners

Dry shakes are divided into three basic groups according to the type of aggregate that they contain:

Natural quartz aggregate
Synthetic (non-metallic) mineral aggregates
Metallic and metallic alloy aggregates

The aggregate component of a dry shake mix can range from 100% of one of these groups to a blend of some or all of them. Blending flexibility provides options with respect to performance properties, and color. The wide range of available materials can create some confusion when selecting the appropriate dry shake hardener. The type of aggregate has an important influence on final floor appearance and performance properties, but there are no definitive international standards that specify the aggregate type or content.

The decision to specify a type of dry shake will depend on several factors, including service condition, durability, aesthetic and cost. For industrial applications, the best guide for specifiers is to compare abrasion resistance properties of the products.

Benefits of Dry Shakes Hardeners

All commercial, manufacturing, and warehouse floors require a high quality work surface providing long-term durability, high abrasion resistance, dustproofing, low permeability and safety. In most industrial applications dry shake floors have the best price/performance ratio when compared with alternative concrete treatments or finishes. The main characteristics and benefits provided by dry shake hardeners include: installation time saving, enhanced durability, improved traction safety, aesthetic options, and overall economy.

Applying dry shake aggregate floor hardeners on freshly placed concrete

What are Dry Shake Hardeners?

Dry shakes are factory blended materials containing a cementitious binder, aggregates, admixtures and other additives. They may incorporate inorganic pigments or be naturally colored. The ability of a dry shake material to provide a hard, abrasion-resistant wearing surface depends on the presence of enough free water at the fresh concrete surface to enable the finish to be fully wetted and worked monolithically into the base concrete. The hydration process of the cementitious material into dry shake consumes free water from concrete mix and eliminates higher water-to-cement (w/c) ration of the near-surface concrete.

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Fit-For-Purpose Floor for Warehousing and Logistics Facilities 

In warehouses and logistics buildings the concrete slab and flooring are critical to the effective functioning of the operations.

Only by providing the right combination of:

  • Load carrying ability
  • Controlling cracks
  • Treating joints
  • Appropriate tolerances and wearing surface performance


This will a warehouse floor allow the operations to be carried out as expected, with maximum efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Any defect in specification or workmanship will be exposed by the constant, demanding traffic found in these environments. Thus, the most important requirement for the floor in warehouse and logistics facilities is to provide a problem-free platform for the operations relating to functionality, durability and economy.

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Our dry shake Sikafloor® powders are broadcasted directly onto the fresh concrete – before the powerfloat finish is applied – to create an extremely hard-wearing, monolithic concrete floor. Additional performance can be achieved through various liquid-applied surface hardeners, curing compounds and surface sealers.

Sikafloor® HardTop solutions are commonly found in:

  • Storage, logistics and sales areas
  • Non-critical, heavy duty industrial areas such as dry processing facilities
  • Car parks