If you are a DIY (Do It Yourself) type of person, then you probably know a lot of stuff the average guy doesn’t know. Take painting for instance. A DIY knows that an already painted surface, lets say . . . kitchen cabinets, needs some preparation work before repainting.
You might be tempted to NOT do any preparation work, after all, the cabinets are already painted, right? No, that’s not necessarily right.
There’s dirt, grime, and grease that needs to be removed. There might even be loose paint. All of these need to be removed for the new coat of paint to bond well. And while you’re at it, a light sanding to score and roughen the painted surface, followed by a coat of primer, and you are ready to repaint.
A concrete sample before shotblasting (L) and an identical sample after shotblasting (R). |
The same concept applies to a concrete floor, especially if the floor has loose paint or some other coating on it.
Preparation of the concrete BEFORE applying a coating is an integral part of the coating process. As in the sanding step before painting the cabinets, for a strong bond between the coating and the concrete, the concrete needs to be profiled. Profiling provides a rough surface for the coating to bond to the concrete surface.
Shotblasting is a very common method to profile the concrete surface. This method uses steel shot blasted onto the concrete surface at a very high velocity. The machine used to shotblast includes a vacuum to remove the steel shot at the same time.
By removing thin coatings, contaminants, and soft concrete, as well as roughening the concrete surface to improve adhesion, shotblasting prepares the concrete for new coatings.
Blackwell’s, Inc.
Specialized Industrial Cleaning,
Concrete Coatings and Concrete Repair
www.blackwells-inc.com
CO2LD TECH
Dry Ice Blasting
www.co2ldtech.com
LaGrange, GA
706-883-6239