Compositions useful as coatings, wherein the compositions comprise a coating material and a material selected from the group consisting of: mortars and grouts in admixture with the coating material. The coatings may be water-based or solvent-based, and may be epoxies, polyurethanes, polyaspartic ester polymers and polyureas in some embodiments. Compositions according to the disclosure exhibit enhanced physical properties compared with the same compositions made in the absence of a mortar or a grout as an ingredient. Compositions according to some embodiments have at least one of a mortar or grout, and optionally both, evenly dispersed within the bulk of a coating material prior to its application to a substrate sufficiently that the particles of the mortar or grout, or both when both are selected to be present, are substantially completely surrounded by a curable reactive mixture that cures to form a polymeric material useful as a coating.