9/11 Remembrance “Lest We Forget”
“Lest we forget—lest we forget!” – Rudyard Kipling, Recessional 1897 “Liberty Mourns” by Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept.12, 2001
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Slip Resistant Walkways in The Old City of Jerusalem
While modern construction techniques allow structures to be built faster, some ancient construction techniques have stood the test of time. These two photos show the contrast between old and new. On the left is a photo of an ancient alleyway in The Old City of Jerusalem. Adjacent to the steps is a walkway of paving…
Is This Floor the Future of Polished Floors?
“The future is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed “. −William Gibson─ To most people, this newly polished concrete floor looks like just about any other Blackwell’s, Inc. polished concrete floor. Yes, it’s got a brilliant shine brought about by the 1500 grit finish, but there’s a significant difference. Following the…
Smoke Causes Damage Long After the Fire is Out
The fire was quickly put out and the firetrucks have all returned to the station. Thankfully, the fire was contained in one area, and the building interior suffered mostly smoke damage. You may be thinking the smoke stains are nothing to worry about, but the smoke stains will continue to cause damage and can be…
Covid-19 Risk to Workers
Covid-19 Risk to Workers Covid-19 is a respiratory virus, largely spread through breathing in infected respiratory droplets.The risk of exposure to it in industrial facilities may depend on the type of industry and the need for workers to be within 6 feet of each other. The CDC says that even though COVID-19 spreads primarily from…
Blackwell’s Inc. is Still Open for Business Servicing the Industrial Cleaning and Flooring Needs
While many businesses across our country are closed due to the coronavirus shutdown, Blackwell’s, Inc. is still open and servicing the industrial cleaning and flooring needs at large manufacturing industries. Thankfully, many manufacturing industries are still producing goods vital to our country. For those manufacturers that are forced to close due to the coronavirus, hopefully…
Blackwell’s Against the Backdrop of the Coronavirus
Blackwell’s Inc has a contingency plan in place designed to prevent any service disruptions due to coronavirus impacts. Blackwell’s will continue to monitor CDC and EPA guide lines, product recommendations and implementation processes, required to maintain a front-line position in the battle against COVID-19. Much of Blackwell’s day to day work involves the cleaning and…
Vacuuming Rooftop Ballast Rock
So why do roofing contractors put rock on a flat roof? There are several reasons. The ballast (rock or gravel ) protects the waterproof membrane underneath from the blistering and cracking damage from the sun. The ballast helps weigh down the membrane to keep it in place. And, it makes the roof more energy-efficient. Some…
Emergency Cleaning
Emergencies can happen anytime. And when they do, a quick response is critical. Blackwell’s Inc. received a 5:05 PM call yesterday to respond to an immediate need at a large industrial site . The facility had accidently filled the oil fire suppression and effluent tank to capacity with runoff water, leaving no room for any…
Repair of a HazMat Storage Area
A hazardous material is any thing which has the potential to cause harm to humans, animals, or the environment. It could be in the garage, the bathroom, even the kitchen, but without a doubt, most homes, if not all homes in America have some type of hazardous material stored . . . somewhere. And it’s…
Vacuum Truck Removes Contaminated Flour From Silo
Using a Vacuum Truck to Clean Silos How do you dry 80,000 lbs. of wheat flour, contained in a silo and wet from rain from a hurricane ? You don’t. You use a vacuum truck to remove it from the silo and then you dump it. By all accounts, Hurricane Irma was a deadly and…
Industrial Cleaning of Ductwork to Improve Indoor Air Quality
Industrial Cleaning of Aspiration System Ductwork It’s well known that indoor air is often more contaminated than outdoor air. This can be especially true in an industry that creates a lot of dust in the process of making a product. Industrial cleaning of a facility’s aspiration system’s ductwork can increase the efficiency of the system…
Several Reasons Why Floor Coatings Fail
Why do some floor coatings fail? There can be many reasons but the reason the vast majority of floor coatings fail is not the coating . . . it’s the concrete floor itself! Some reasons are:[spacer] • The concrete was a bad mix when it was delivered • Poor finishing of the concrete after it…
Concrete Floor Polishing to Polish a Rock
Polishing a Granite Rock Using Concrete Floor Polishing Techniques Concrete floor polishing has a short history in the U.S. Some say it was introduced here in 1999. But concrete itself has been around for thousands of years. Without a doubt, concrete is the most widely used, man-made material used in construction. Archaeologist can date its…
Dry Ice Blasting to Clean Electric Motors
Electric motors are an essential part of industries around the world. Most have a long service life and are trouble free. But let an industrial electric motor fail somewhere in a production line or a piece of equipment and the industrial facility could be shut down until the motor is replaced. Dry ice blasting can…
Concrete Coatings to Protect Against Corrosive Materials
Chemical Resistant Concrete Coatings Are Ideal For Secondary Spill Containment Industries rely on many different materials in the production of the goods we use daily. Many of these materials are highly concentrated and can be hazardous even in small amounts. An accidental spill or leakage of a concentrated acid, for example, could be hazardous to people…
Mobile Vacuuming System Opens Up New Opportunities in Industrial Cleaning
New Opportunities in Industrial Cleaning What started as a chimney sweeping business in 1982 quickly took a new direction when we added pressure washing to make up for the slack time when we were not cleaning chimneys. Over the years since, we’ve evolved into the specialized industrial cleaning company we are today. Staying competitive in the industrial cleaning business requires…
Using CO2 (Dry Ice) Blasting to Clean Heavy Equipment
When we say “We specialize in industrial cleaning”, this is what we mean! This is a 26 ft. diameter split ring gear that is used to turn a cement tumbler. The gear teeth were cleaned using dry ice (CO2) blasting. Removing the grease from the gear’s teeth will allow engineers to inspect the teeth for…
The Role of CO2 in Coffee Production: Flavor and Cleaning
<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0; URL=/pages/Blackwells-Inc/277957678921824?_fb_noscript=1″ /> CO2 gas can play a triple role in coffee production. It affects the flavor (both good and bad) and cleaning (if CO2 blasting is used). Coffee is made from a bean (actually a seed). When it’s dried, roasted and ground, it’s used to make . . . coffee. Roasting the coffee beans gives coffee…
Coated Garage Floors Can Minimize Stains
If you owned a car in the early 1900’s, and it broke down, you either fixed it yourself, or you had a bicycle mechanic, a blacksmith, or even the local plumber to take a look at it. Where there was a car repair garage, there’s a good chance it had a dirt floor. Eventually, the dirt floors evolved…
Confined Space Work Requires Training
While most of us will never know what it’s like to clean in the confined space of an industrial oven or a latex storage tank, there are people who do just that. We’ve got many of those on our crews here at Blackwell’s. Yes, it can be very dirty work . . . the kind…
Concrete Repair of Abused Concrete
Forklifts have become an almost indispensable piece of equipment used in warehouses and industries. Their first reported use was about 1906. If you’ve ever been in a warehouse, then you’ve most likely seen forklifts being used to move heavy objects and pallets of materials short distances. Most forklifts are rubber tired, which works well on the concrete floors…
Cleaning Gas Turbine Compressor Blades
Just in case you’ve never heard of a gas turbine engine, without doubt you’ve seen them in use. Drive by a gas fired power plant or watch commercial jets and some helicopters streak across the sky, and you’ve seen a gas turbine engine in use. Even the M-1 Abrams tank has one. In a gas turbine engine, a…
Cleaning a Chocolate Silo Takes Precaution
To some people, standing in and cleaning a silo of melted chocolate and crushing grapes in a wooden barrel with your bare feet might sound like a fun job. For about five minutes, maybe! I can’t vouch for the grape crushing. I’ve never done it. But some of our associates here at Blackwell’s, Inc. can tell you…
High Chairs Have Secondary Containment
What does a toddler’s high chair and an industrial facility have in common? The answer is . . . secondary containment. Now, if you haven’t been around toddlers in a very long time (or if it’s been so long since you sat in a high chair yourself, that you’ve forgotten), the tray on a high chair has a rounded…
Industrial Cleaning Means Always Learning Something New
Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Co., knew something back in his day besides how to build cars. He knew how important it was to learn. He said . . . “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” And research is proving him right. We are…
Cleaning of Storage Tanks Requires Training, Skills, and Equipment
Most car manufacturers and automotive service shops recommend flushing the cooling system, i.e. radiator, of cars after a period of time to get rid of deposits that accumulated over the years. And the same recommendation can be made for the industrial cleaning of storage tanks, too. Over time, and depending on whether the storage tank…
The Blessings Our Industrial Cleaning and Industrial Flooring Provides
“What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?” (Author Unknown) The Plymouth colonists in 1621, had good reason to be thankful. Of the 102 passengers on board the Mayflower when it left England in September 1620, only about half of them survived to see the first spring. Were it…
Valued Industrial Cleaning Equipment That Began As a Moonshine Still
A piece of equipment we use regularly in the industrial cleaning business had its beginning in 1926 as a moonshine still. During Prohibition, when moonshining, or the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol, was illegal, many citizens in defiance of the law, continued to moonshine. The story goes that a young inventor named Frank W.…
Cleaning a Sulfuric Acid Tank Is No Treat (but it can be quite tricky)
What may look like a Halloween costume of a character from a horror film, is actually part of the protective gear one of our associates donned before entering the confined space of an emptied sulfuric acid tank. For those of you who may have forgotten your chemistry, sulfuric acid is colorless, odorless, and extremely corrosive.…
Installing Coated Floors the Right Way and the First Time
The quote “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression” is often attributed to Oscar Wilde, the 19 century playwright. The problem is . . . it’s also said to have come from George Bernard Shaw, Will Rogers, and a few others who just might have lifted the quote from .…
Do Concrete Floors and Sheep Have Anything in Common?
Do sheep and concrete floors have anything in common? Well, probably not on face value. But think about sheep for a moment. They are covered in wool. Wool is a porous and bulky material that provides a physical avenue to draw moisture (known as moisture transmission) away from the sheep’s body and for whoever might…
Staging Materials for a Job
Staging Materials for a Job Sometimes we forget about the amount of work that goes on just to get ready for a job we have contracted to do. The job could be an industrial flooring installation, concrete floor repair, or it could be a specialized industrial cleaning job. But regardless of the job, it starts…
Shotblasting to Correct the Surface Dusting of Concrete
Most people probably have an inate belief that concrete, being the hard, stone-like material that they see, is free from all problems. Concrete is an excellent building material, but it’s not perfect. The good news is that problems with concrete are avoidable, or at least can usually be fixed. Dusting, that fine, powdery, material that easily…
Bacterial Contaminations in Cooling Towers
You may have seen the recent headline news where Legionnaires’ disease has killed 12 and sickened more than 120 people in New York City. The news reported that more than 15% of the cooling towers tested there were found to be contaminated with Legionella bacteria. Cooling towers are a part of large cooling systems for facilities…
Industrial Cleaning of Air Handlers
For many manufacturers, as much as 35 % of the energy used to make a product, goes to heating, cooling, and ventilation. Making smart decisions about heating and cooling can have a big effect on manufacturing utility bills. A heating and cooling system is made up of many parts. Pictured here is the centrifugal fan inside…
When Concrete May Not be the Best Choice
Concrete construction has been around since about 1200-1400 B.C. It is one of the most durable man-made building materials used around the world. The Romans used it and even today, the concrete dome of the Pantheon in Rome still exists. Concrete seems like it can last almost forever. To get rid of it requires concrete saws, demolition hammers,…
The Two Ways to Clean a Polished Concrete Floor
Polished concrete is a wonderful alternative for industrial flooring with many great benefits. And one of the benefits is that it’s a beautiful “low maintenance floor”. But don’t make the mistake and assume that means “no maintenance” or that the floor can be cleaned just any old way. Both assumptions are wrong. There are two ways…
Cleaning By the Gentlest Means
Research is now showing that there is a direct link between achievement and behavior in school, and the overall condition and appearance of the school. Okay. I’ll be the first to admit that I was not the best student in high school. There were just too many distractions for me while I was in school.…
Almost Brand New Again
“You Make Me Feel Brand New” was a 1974 hit by the Stylistics. Even though I haven’t heard that song in forever, just reading the lyrics got me to whistling the tune. But being brand new and feeling brand new are not the same. And being brand new is entirely different than looking brand new. Looking…
It’s Not Always About Industrial Cleaning and Concrete
Have you ever thought that you were created to work? According to the Bible, work is God’s gift to man. If we look at work that way, then our work is a blessing to us. For several years now, we’ve been blessed with our fair share of work and then some. Our associates put in…
Industrial Cleaning without Disruption
In most industries, there will come a day when the facility will shut down for repairs and cleaning. The question of whether or not to shut down just doesn’t come up. Most likely it will shut down. It’s very hard for some industries to sacrifice their production to shut down for repairs and cleaning. The…
PPE Helps Provide Safety On the Job.
According to national statistics, nearly two million people receive disabling injuries at work. One-forth of these injuries involve the head, eyes, hands, and feet. Hazards of every type exist in just about every workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that employers must protect their employees from these hazards. When the hazard can…
Controlling Rust is Saving Dollars.
$300 billion. That’s an estimate of the annual cost of corrosion in the U.S. And that includes just about every industry sector in the U.S. Corrosion is a term used to describe the deterioration of a material as it reacts with its environment. If you are talking about iron, then you and I know it as “rusting”.…
What’s in Concrete?
OK, this may be something you already know. And then again, it might not be. But contrary to what some people think, cement and concrete are not the same thing. Cement is a material used to make concrete. In a broader sense, cement is a general name for something that binds things together. So is glue. But the…
Preventive Maintenance is a Key Part of Preventing Emergency Shutdowns
“My daughter believes in preventive medicine” the mother said to the doctor. “Oh, really” replied the doctor. “Yes. She tries to prevent me from making her take it!” When it comes to our health, most of us probably understand how important it is to eat the right foods, exercise regularly, have a yearly physical, and…
Minimal but Essential Concrete Floor Cleaning Care
When our concrete floor polishers leave your job-site, you have a beautiful, light reflecting, and durable floor. And one of the most beautiful advantages of a concrete floor polishing, other than the marble-like look, is that floor maintenance is minimal. Minimal, but essential! Dirt is terrible for concrete floor polishing because it grinds down the polished surface of…
Polished Concrete Floors are Found Just About Everywhere
There is a very good reason you find polished concrete floors everywhere. It’s a choice flooring material. Polished floors can be shiny and marble-like, or they can be low sheen floors. Even old concrete floors can take on a high-gloss, almost marble-like appearance that never needs waxes or coatings. But a polished concrete floor is more than…
Word of Mouth is Expanding Our Business Beyond the Southeast
If you travel any of the highways in the southeastern United States, you are very likely to see one (or more) of our 15 red Ford trucks. Since 1983, Blackwell’s, Inc. has provided service to industries in the southeast. We specialize in Industrial Cleaning, Concrete Polishing, Concrete Floor Coatings, Concrete Repair, and Dry Ice Blasting. Our…
Industrial Cleaning . . . Does Your Facility Have What It Takes?
Cleaning is pretty much a fact of life, and unless you do the cleaning yourself, somebody else does it. That’s where we come in. We’ve been in the industrial cleaning business since 1983 and we work in some of the most well-known industries in the southeastern United States. These industries have all kinds of equipment, storage tanks,…
Epoxy Floor Coatings are a Good Choice for Restrooms
Sooner or later, and at a most inopportune time, most of us will have to use a public restroom. It’s one of those things we can’t necessarily avoid (unless we just decide to stay home). And a public restroom, it seems, is either maintained well, or not at all! And if not maintained, the end…
Dirty Ductwork Decreases Efficiency
Yesterday, my 2 year old grandson was sliding down the plastic slide at the playground. He discovered that he could slow himself down if he kept his arm rubbing against the side of the slide. That little bit of extra friction was all it took to keep his speed down. The same thing holds true for…
Dry Ice Blasting is the King of Cleaning in the Food Industry
Think about our food for a moment. We enjoy a diverse abundance of low-cost food, and because we live here in the United States, we only spend about 6-7 percent of our disposable income on it. That’s less than any of the other 83 other countries for which the USDA tracks data. Now, that doesn’t…
Acid Damage to Concrete
Concrete is one of the most durable man-made building materials used around the world. Archeological evidence dates its use as far back as 1200-1400 B.C. Something that’s been around that long is pretty darn durable. But . . . concrete can deteriorate. Freezing of trapped water, the effects of sea water, even certain bacteria and…
Do you Need an Anti-Slip Floor?
Regardless of what an industry produces, the floor has one thing in common with all the other industrial floors . . . they are made of concrete. The strength and durability of concrete makes it a great floor. However, concrete is porous, and that allows it to absorb water and other fluids. A solution is…
Cleaning Electric Motors With Dry Ice Blasting
Some time ago, my wife complained that our new vacuum cleaner would work for a few minutes and then shut off. After a few minutes it would work again . . . and then shut off again. I knew it must be overheating for some reason, but after checking and clearing the hose and roller…
Secondary Containment Can Prevent Costly Cleanups
Have you ever had a bottle of cooking oil with a tiny crack in the bottle? If you have, then you know what a mess it can be to clean up the cabinet that it’s stored in! We have. And that’s why we store the bottle of oil in a old cake pan in the cabinet.…
Showing the Way By Getting In the Trenches
No one here at Blackwell’s, Inc. likes to be called “The Boss” especially the boss. But the company officers and salesmen here (including “The Boss”) understand the difficulties our guys in the trenches face and these men are willing to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, and dive into any challenge. Just last…
Why Not Just Use Water To Clean Polished Concrete?
It may sound like a good idea,but just using water to clean a polished concrete floor doesn’t really clean it very well. Water leaves much of the dirt on the floor, which will eventually abrade and discolor the surface. Using a polished concrete floor cleaner is important. So how does a cleaner work that makes…
Sandblasting As a Cleaning Method
It’s a messy job. And without precautions it can be somewhat of a dangerous job. But if done properly, sandblasting is a very effective way to remove rust from steel and cast iron. Sandblasting has been around since about 1870. Media blasting, as it’s generally called now, has changed over the years, but the process…
Hydro Excavation . . . Digging With Water
Lets imagine you are the manager of a large industrial facility and discover, in an area you know has various lines and pipes buried, an obvious leak in one of the lines deep underground. After running a few tests, you determine it just a water leak. Now your thoughts turn to digging up the ground…
Can Dry Ice Blasting Remove Rust?
To answer this question, lets establish that rust is a product of combustion. Really? Isn’t combustion what happens when something burns? Well, yes. But more specifically it’s what happens when something reacts with oxygen to produce heat and light, as in fire. So what’s fire got to do with rust? They are both a combustion…
The Science of Dry Ice Blasting
Call it CO2 blasting or dry ice blasting, cleaning with frozen carbon dioxide pellets is one powerful way to clean a surface when you want to make sure it is absolutely clean, without harming it or polluting the surface with chemical residue. This specialized cleaning process uses tiny pellets of dry ice, blasted at supersonic…
A Seamless Floor and Cove Base
Think about it. In any room (that is, if it is a normal room), the walls and the floor meet at a 90 degree angle. That angle can make cleaning the floor a difficult job. Mops, brooms and brushes just don’t reach into that wall-floor junction very well, allowing dirt and water to collect, which…
Polished Concrete for a Beautiful, Durable, No Wax Shine
The beautiful shine of the floor alone makes polished concrete one of our most requested floors. Even old concrete floors can take on a high-gloss, almost marble-like appearance that never needs waxes or coatings. But a polished concrete floor is more than a beautiful shine. It’s a low maintenance and a very durable floor, too.…
How Does Dry Ice Clean?
It sounds like it could be a storm on an alien world somewhere, but imagine tiny, rice grain sized ice pellets, at a temperature of minus 109 degrees, being blown at supersonic speeds. A storm like that could do major damage, except it’s not a storm. It’s a gentle cleaning method. Dry ice blasting uses…
Confidence When Working at Heights
The challenges we face from day to day aren’t common in the average work place and it takes a level of commitment to accept these challenges. We perform unusual and challenging acts in our line of work, and we take on the unforeseen challenges of aerial work high above the ground almost daily. We were…
Why Does a Polished Concrete Floor Lose Its Shine?
Because you do nothing. That’s right. The number one cause is neglect. To many people, a concrete floor appears to be dry, solid, and impermeable. But concrete more closely resembles a very hard, almost dry sponge. All concrete starts out wet (if it wasn’t wet, you couldn’t pour it). It can take years to dry…
Containment Barriers to Protect Equipment and Health During Cleaning and Renovations
It’s almost a given. If renovations or cleaning is going on, there’s bound to be some type of particulate (dusts) released into the air. To renovate, you have to tear down, and this creates dust. Dusts that are not contained make a bigger mess and a bigger area to clean up after the work is…
Cleaning an Industrial Hydraulic Oil Tank
You may have heard the term ‘confined space’, but do you know exactly what it means? And if you are unsure what a confined space looks like, then take a look at this photo: In short, a confined space is: large enough for a person to occupy is difficult to get in and out of…
August is a Month for Planning Industrial Shutdowns
The month of August has some rather interesting trivia associated with it. Did you know that August is the month that birds begin flying south for the winter? Insects are nosier, weeds grow faster, and August is one of the months associated with “The Dog Days of Summer”. August is said to be the busiest…
A Polished Concrete Floor Has Minimal But Necessary Maintenance
One of the most beautiful advantages of concrete floor polishing, other than the marble-like sheen, is that the maintenance of the floor is minimal. But minimal DOES NOT mean NO MAINTENANCE. The durability of a newly polished floor and the length of time between re-polishing is directly affected by how well you follow an established maintenance…
You May Not See the Contaminant Residues In Ductwork
When asked about his pitching, Walter Johnson, the legendary Major League Baseball pitcher for the Washington Senators is credited with the saying . . . “You can’t hit what you can’t see”. And I’m sure you’ve heard the more profound . . . “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there”. Whether you’re…
Dry Ice Blast Cleaning In the Food Industry
How many of us give absolutely no thought to the system that makes it possible for us to have food on the table, clothes on our back, and a place to live? The answer would most likely be . . . most of us. Yet America’s food and fiber system, which includes farms, food and…
Proper Maintenance of Polished and Coated Concrete Floors
Polished concrete and coated concrete floors are both great floors in industrial environments. Depending on the industry, one floor might be a better choice than the other. Or, as in the photos below, a combination of polished and coated concrete might make the best floor choice. Regardless of which floor you choose, for the floor to look…
Epoxy Coating to Repair Rusted Metal Housing
Go look around your yard and you’ll probably find something made of iron. If what you find is not protected in some way, there is a pretty good chance it’s rusting. Rust is a chemical reaction that happens when oxygen in the air or water reacts with iron in metal. It causes a loss of untold millions…
Dry Ice Blasting to Prepare a Wall for Painting
This is the second post written by Zach Cato, one of our CO2LD TECH dry ice blasting supervisors. This particular job was to use up the remaining dry ice left over from an ice blasting job at the same mill earlier that day. The before and after photos of the job are not as dramatic…
Frequently Asked Questions about CO2 Cleaning
CO2 cleaning is seeing more and more use for a large variety of purposes. Also known as dry ice cleaning or dry ice blasting, CO2 cleaning is one of the most powerful ways to clean a surface when you want to make sure it is absolutely scoured, without harming it or polluting it with…
A Better Way to Install Non-Slip Epoxy Flooring
There’s always more than one way to do something. But . . . there may be only one way to do it best. Take loading a dishwasher. Yeah, you can turn all the spoons the same way, but invariably when the dishwasher starts, some of those spoons are going to lock together and not get cleaned.…
The Best Cleaners to Use on Polished Concrete Floors
Flooring that has undergone industrial concrete polishing needs to be handled with care; it can no longer be subjected to the kind of treatments that you would use on the standard concrete of, say, your garage floor. Knowing the proper cleaners to use on your polished concrete is integral to the prolonged life of…
A Polished Concrete Floor From a Coated Concrete Floor
Epoxy coated floors are highly durable and can last for years, even decades with proper maintenance. But the durability also depends on the way the coating was applied. Coatings require the concrete to be cleaned and either mechanically or acid-etched to roughen the concrete surface for good bonding. A failure in the preparation of the…
Floor Coating Failure From Concrete Moisture Emmision
Does a concrete slab and the cruise control on a car have anything in common? Well, . . . sort of.Both are influenced by homeostatic principles. Homeostasis simply means that things are regulated so that internal conditions remain the same or stable. Take the cruise control on a car. It’s set by the driver to maintain a car…
Cleaning Inside Confined Spaces . . . Not for the Squeamish
A confined space, according to labor-safety regulations, is an enclosed area with limited access. They are not designed for people, but people do enter them to perform certain jobs, such as cleaning the interiors, or repairing machinery that might be housed inside the confined space area. Just by the nature of our industrial cleaning work,…
Don’t Forget the Floor: How Epoxy Floor Coating Can Help your Business
Running a business is much more than deciding on which products to sell, it also requires an eye for layout and design. While the most commonly considered features may include shelving or decoration for walls, it would be a serious mistake to overlook how your floors are presented. Without the proper treatment, concrete floors may…
Cleanup is Much Simpler With Dry Ice Blasting
Dry ice blasting is well known for being an efficient method for cleaning. One of the big advantages of cleaning with dry ice is the cleanup after the actual cleaning. Because dry ice sublimates back into the atmosphere (turns back into CO2 gas without becoming a liquid first), the cleanup is much simpler. There is…
Safety Precautions for Silo Cleaning
It’s not an easy job cleaning a silo. These structures can be up to 200 feet tall and 90 feet in diameter. Cleaning the interior of these silos are a challenge and require special training and techniques to enter these confined spaces. Zach Cato, one of our Blackwell’s supervisors wrote a description of the work…
Has your Business Switched to Dry Ice Blasting Yet?
As time progresses, the popularity of dry ice blasting continues to grow along with the number of people who have experienced the wonders of this alternative cleaning solution. Yet, there are still a staggeringly high number of people in industrial occupations that have yet to hear about what CO2 Blasting can do to help their…
Brand Logos Installed on Epoxy Coated Concrete Floors
12 foot logo in epoxy with urethane topcoat on concrete. There is no denying that an attention getting floor graphic does just that . . . it gets your attention. Especially when it is as beautiful as the floor graphic we recently installed at Pratt & Whitney. Successful companies invest a lot of long, hard work to build…
5 Reasons Why Dry Ice Blasting Ices the Competition
If you’re in need of a method of cleaning the surface of equipment and machinery, your first thought might be to use sand blasting, plastic bead blasting, or soda blasting. Unfortunately, for as popular as these mediums are, they are also damaging to your equipment. There is, however, a faster, more cost effective, and entirely…
Safety On the Jobsite Takes Effort
You can’t count on just luck to keep you safe. Confined space safety training for new associates at Blackwell’s, Inc. It takes planning, effort, consistency . . .and a little prayer every now and then. We do all these here at Blackwell’s, Inc. and CO2ld Tech. 1000 days. That’s the number of safe work days we’ve gone…
Shot Blasting to Profile Concrete Surfaces for Coatings
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,…
Newly Discovered Rail System On the Moon?
Walk through the checkout lane at just about any discount or grocery store and you’ll find tabloid magazines with some rather bizarre story headlines on the cover page. 80 year old warehouse floor before renovation. At a quick glance, the photo to the right might appear to be something worthy of a tabloid story. Intersecting, parallel rails on…
What’s a Little Snow?
The big news this week in Georgia has to be the little bit of snow that caused big problems in Atlanta. What’s a couple of inches of snow going to do? A lot! It may not look like much, but that little bit of snow caused huge problems for some of us here in the south. Just…
Nine Things About Dry Ice (CO2) Blasting That You Might Not Know
Dry ice has been around for . . . well, since God created everything. No one invented it, rather it was discovered back about 1834. It’s not found naturally occurring in nature. Not on Earth, anyway. But on Mars, yes. Dry ice pellets used in dry ice blasting Since it is now used to clean…
Dry Ice Blasting Can Clean Without Damaging Surfaces
Sometimes, pieces of equipment can get so “gummed up” with contaminant and residue that they stop working efficiently, and may even jam up. Dry ice blasting is perfect to help solve that problem. Even different materials on the same piece of equipment can sometimes be a problem to clean for risk of damaging the equipment.…
Our Dry Ice Blasting Crews Have Experience and Qualifications
We’re proud to say that we’ve got some of the most experienced, highly qualified dry ice blasting crews in the dry ice blasting business. Our crews hold the following licences and certifications: Confined Space Certification Hazardous Materials Training LLP Safety Training Program Lock-out/Tag-out Certification Respirator Protection Certification Bloodborne Pathogens Certifications First Aid/CPR Certification PFP/FPP Training…
Flour Silos Are A Challenge To Clean
We all want our food to be safe to eat. Thankfully, our food industry products are made to high standards of quality and safety. Cleanliness in the industry, if not paramount, is close to the top of importance in food safety. Every process has to start someplace. In the food industry, it starts with a…
Can the Smoke Be Worse than the Fire?
Well, the answer can be . . . YES. Smoke from a fire can contain all kinds of different chemicals. Not only does smoke cause stains when it comes in contact with surfaces, but the chemicals in the smoke are deposited on the surfaces, too. The smoke stains are bad enough to have to deal…
Got Dirt?
Our unsung workers make their living cleaning equipment used in some of the most well known and vital industries in the southeastern United States. These hardworking men can often be found inside this equipment and in some of the most confined spaces imaginable. Keeping this equipment in production means periodically stopping production for maintenance. Cleaning…
Compare Apples to Apples When Installing a Floor Coating
It hurts to lose a floor coating job when one company bids a job according to the construction specifications and the company winning the bid doesn’t. It’s like the idiom “comparing apples to oranges”. The specifications provide a number of lists and instructions for the installation, including the materials to be used, how and where…
Our New Dry Ice Blasting Website
We’ve just launched our new CO2LD TECH dry ice blasting website. Actually, it’s the same site, just with a new look. It ‘s not finished yet, but we are updating the information. Check it out at www.co2ldtech.com . Blackwell’s Inc. LaGrange, GA 706-883-6239 www.blackwells-inc.com
There’s An Expense With Rusty Metal
You’ve seen the effects of rust. It causes a loss of untold millions of dollars each year. Rust is in general, the oxidation of a metal surface. It’s a chemical reaction that happens when oxygen in the air or water reacts with iron in metal. The problem with iron (as well as other metals) is that the oxide formed…
Superior Innovations in Safety
“Safety first” is a slogan that we as adults should teach our children even though they may never fully appreciate it until they themselves become adults. But it’s a slogan that we emphasize almost constantly in our line of work. Our work requires us to be in many industrial environments throughout the southeastern United States. …
Dry Ice Blasting Can Be a Hot Job
When living creatures exhale, they give off carbon dioxide(CO2) gas. In simple terms, under high pressure and low temperature, CO2 gas becomes a liquid. Take this liquid CO2, release the pressure, and the expansion of the liquid and the high speed evaporation of the CO2 cools the remainder of the liquid CO2 down to its freezing…
Ice Blasting to Remove Rust.
You recognize rust when you see it, but do you know how it got there? The red dust on iron or steel forms when the oxygen in the air reacts with the free iron in the metal to make iron oxide, or rust. Water speeds the whole process up by mixing with carbon dioxide in the air to form…
Industrial Oven Cleaning Can Prevent Product Damage
Quick! Think of an oven. You probably thought about your kitchen oven. I would have too. But ovens encompass a whole lot more than just a kitchen. For everything that requires heat processing, there’s an oven. From cooking our food to curing the paint on a new car, an oven is used.
Industrial Environments Often Require Confined Space Work
Because of the nature of our work, we will find ourselves in many industrial environments, many of which have confined work spaces which require special trainings and skills to enter. While most industries have guidelines which follow OSHA’s rules, we require all our associates to not only receive and meet the individual industrial plants’ specific safety requirements,…
Clean Ductwork to Improve Air Flow
We all know that energy costs are going up. Yes, it is steadily increasing, and so is our energy consumption. According to a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), wholesale electric prices have increased by double digits since the first half of 2013 when compared to the same period in 2012. Wow! That takes…
Cleaning With Dry Ice? How Could He Have Known?
It’s believed to have first been observed in 1834 when a French chemist opened a container of liquid carbon dioxide. By opening the container, the pressure inside was reduced and some of the liquid carbon dioxide vaporized. This caused a very rapid lowering of the temperature of the liquid carbon dioxide remaining in the container. It…
Yes, It’s the Same Floor
Sometimes it’s really hard for me to see a floor before we coat it, and the same floor after we coat it, and believe it’s the same floor. The smaller photo shows the gray epoxy coating on a floor in the workroom of an office building. It’s been there for years.
Dry Ice Blasting to Remove Flour Residue
Yesterday, my youngest sister asked if she could have the old wooden flour bowl our mother used when she made biscuits. All three of us siblings knew where she always kept it . . . in the lower kitchen cabinet of our beloved homeplace. Old flour still clings to the inside of the cabinet walls where the flour…
Polished or Coated Industrial Floors: Which is Best?
By now it should be pretty obvious that we are in the industrial flooring business. We can tell you that your floor is a huge investment, so choosing an industrial floor is a most important consideration for you. Which is best? Polished industrial floor with an epoxy coated pedestrian aisle. Both floors look good and…
Caution: Slippery Floors
Kids see it firsthand by looking at the clouds in the sky and feel it firsthand when they touch a glass of cold water. They may not understand it just yet, but one day they will learn that water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into a liquid, forming clouds and water on the outside…
Industrial Cleaning Routinely Requires Confined Space Work
Rusty interior of a latex storage tank before cleaning. I’ve said on this blog before that confined work spaces can be dangerous places. But in the industrial cleaning work that we do, we routinely find ourselves in confined spaces. We’ve found that industries in general lack the training and equipment to safely clean the storage tanks, ovens, pits, silos,…
Dry Ice Blasting to Remove Smoke and Soot Residue
Smoke and soot damage to floor joists after a furnace fire in the crawlspace. Even though it was a relatively small fire confined to the crawlspace of the house, the smell of smoke was extremely invasive and unpleasant throughout the house, long after the fire was out. The fire occurred in a heating unit in the…
An Emergency Industrial Cleaning Job
It wasn’t a life or death emergency. But if you are an industrial manufacturer and your supply line shuts down, and you can’t make your product, then you have an emergency. Such was the case with a food manufacturer. Moisture buildup in a tall grain silo caused the wheat bran it was housing to clump together. The…
A Concrete Floor is Not Immune to Damage
You may be standing there, scratching your head, trying to figure out what could have damaged your concrete floor. After all, isn’t concrete known for its strength and durability? True, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be damaged. And damaged concrete can create damaged equipment. Concrete floors are not immune to damage by impact, abrasion, harsh chemicals,…
A Floor Tugger in Plastic Makes For a Tough Cleaning Job
It probably wasn’t the best idea, but who of us has not acted before we thought something through . . . completely? Floor tugger as it was delivered to us. Molten plastic was emptied into the plastic lined box, which ran through the box, encasing the tugger in hardened plastic. Perhaps there was no time to think and no…
Shot Blasting – An Important Tool
The concept of “shot blasting” has now expanded and in today’s world, is usually called “media blasting” because it uses different types of “shot” or “media” to do different types of jobs. Media blasting is an important tool for us in our industrial coating work. Shot blasting to remove rust and peeling paint from the…
A Confined Space Can Be a Dangerous Place to Work
To enter the silo, our associates are equipped with supplied air, safety harness, ear and eye protection, tyvek suit, and a communication device. When we send one of our guys into a confined space, such as this 100 foot tall silo entry hatch, we send a guy that’s trained to work in tight, dangerous places. Not…
Can a Concrete Floor Turn Into a Food Additive?
Imagine for a moment, your industrial concrete floor turning into a food additive. That is a wild thought! But the possibility is there. You see, acetic acid (think vinegar), used in car manufacturing and other industries, if allowed to react with concrete, forms calcium acetate. Calcium acetate is used as a food additive.Acetic acid, even though it’s considered a relatively…
Use a Different Cleaning Method For a Textured Floor
Put a little water on the floor and just about any restaurant kitchen floor and bathroom floor, and just about any building entrance on a rainy day, can become slippery. Slippery floors can mean nasty falls. A slip-resistant decorative quartz epoxy floor. Enlarge the picture and you can see the texture of the floor. One solution…
How Can Cleaning Save You Money?
Ductwork before cleaning. Exhaust fan before cleaning. Take a look at these top two photos. You’re looking at almost an inch of debris accumulation inside the ductwork and exhaust fan from an industrial oven. Not only does the accumulation reduce air flow, which translates into higher energy costs, but it can cause the electric fan motor…
Your Name on Your Floor. Why Not?
There is a lot in a name. And you’ve invested a lot of time and hard work to make your name recognizable. Epoxy floor system with a urethane topcoat. Why not imbed your name permanently in your floor?We have the ability to install just about any image you can imagine onto the many different types of floors. …
New Life for an Old Floor
We’ve all probably wished for a chance to get a new look. But the older I get, I’ve come to realize it’s just not going to happen. But with an old concrete floor, some dramatic changes can happen. 80 year old concrete floor cut into 8 in tile and polished. The light, irregular areas on the…
Concrete Milling in the Restoration of Concrete.
It was used extensively during the Roman Empire and freed the Romans from having to use stone and brick material in their construction projects. Concrete, as the Romans knew it, was a great advancement in construction engineering. It was so advanced that, even today, the concrete dome of the Pantheon in Rome still exists. Concrete…
A Daunting Floor Coating Job
After you’ve been in the floor coating business as long as we have, there’s very little that surprises us. But one floor in particular became a journey into unexplored territory. And one that caused our project manager a few sleepless nights! These pads were constructed so that they were within 3 mm of level…
Cleaning With Dry Ice Has Clear Advantages.
There are many cleaning applications where using dry ice to clean with has a clear advantage over using water, sand, and solvents. Think about heavy, outdoor equipment. If it’s ouside, then that’s probably a good application for cleaning with sand or water. Delicate equipment after cleaning with dry ice. Cleaning with dry ice can be aggressive…
What is Secondary Containment?
Go in just about any industrial facility in the United States, or anyplace else in the world, and you’ll see tanks, vats, and barrels of all sizes and descriptions, inside and outside the facility. What do they contain? ANYTHING. They can contain anything that is needed to process the materials produced by the facility. Liquid hazardous materials…
Yeah, It’s a Dirty Job . . . but somebody has to do it!
With the exception of Mike Rowe of the Discovery Channel’s tv program “Dirty Jobs” most people would go out of their way to avoid some of the dirty, oily, dangerous jobs we do, but that’s what makes us successful. It all started back in 1982. Back then we were known as Blackwell’s Chimney Sweep Service. We…
We Take Safety Seriously
Safety first. That’s a slogan that we grow up with as children and often never fully appreciate. But here at Blackwell’s Inc. it is something we take very seriously. We work in many industrial environments throughout the southeast. Our goal is to provide our associates with current accurate information regarding safety and how to apply…
High Pressure Dry Ice Blasting Increases Our Efficiency
The specialized equipment used in today’s industries require specialized cleaning techniques. Plant managers, engineers, and maintenance personnel are seeing the advantages of using dry ice blasting to clean this equipment. In case you don’t know anything at all about dry ice blasting, I’ll tell you 4 things about it: “Dry Ice Blasting” uses frozen CO2…
What is Dry Ice Blasting?
Well, for starters, it’s a type of cleaning. The “blasting” part of the name evokes an explosion. And that’s sort of correct (at least on a minuscule level). As you can tell by the name, it uses dry ice, or frozen CO2 if you prefer to call it that. Dry ice pellets being added to dry…
Confined Space Cleaning
30 years ago we were known as Blackwell’s Chimney Sweep Service. But a lot has changed for us since then. Back then, when the chimney sweeping period slowed, we needed something to do to stay busy, so we started doing pressure washing to supplement our work. Cleaning ductwork We had the good fortune to…
Indoor Air Quality During Renovations
Indoor air quality is generally much more polluted than the air outside. But when indoor building renovations or indoor cleanings take place, the air quality indoors can get much worse. This often is a major issue for industrial facilities. 10 X 30 containment room constructed to prevent dusts and residues from contaminating nearby equipment during this concrete…
Electrostatic Dissipative and Conductive Flooring Systems
Everyone will agree that technology is growing at an unprecedented pace in the 21st Century, and along with this growth, certain previously unknown problems have arisen. Partial and catastrophic failures in micro and nano circuitry due to electrostatic discharge on the production line are a relatively recent phenomenon. Electrostatic discharges can create severe issues with…
Caring for a Newly Installed Coated Floor
Multi-color epoxy system with a chemical resistant urethane topcoat. We pride ourselves on installing a coated floor system that you will be proud of and will last for a long time. Newly installed coated flooring systems should be cured a minimum of 72 hours at 70° F. before any wash downs. Only warm water should…
Blisters in a Floor Coating? (It’s Probably NOT From Heat
It’s nice to have all the time in the world to get things done. But you can bet a construction contractor does not have that luxury. For construction work to remain on schedule, a contractor has to have all the work completed on time . . . one sub-contractor has to have his work completed…
Failures in Circuitry May Be Caused By Your Floors
Let’s say you are a Plant Manager of a company that uses electronic circuits and technology to make a product. Now let’s say you are having problems caused by failures in the circuitry. What’s a possible cause of this? It could be static electricity. Most elementary school kids know about static electricity. They’ve seen their…
Sulfuric Acid Damage to Concrete Floor
Sulfuric acid damage to a concrete floor. While coated flooring often requires less maintenance than other type finishes, cleaning and removal of any chemical spills must be performed. Chemical spills should be neutralized, washed down with water, and removed as soon as possible. This is typically achieved by using a squeegee to remove the excess…
#1 Cause For Loss of Polished Floor Shine. . .
There are 3 primary causes that result in premature shine deterioration of a polished concrete floor: Using harsh chemicals Using harsh brushes and pads Doing nothing But the number one cause is . . . DOING NOTHING! That’s right. The number 1 cause is neglect (or just using water). The final sheen of a polished…
OSHA Training . . . a High Priority at Blackwell’s Inc.
Clint Greathouse, Safety Coordinator at Blackwell’s Inc., recently completed the OSHA Course Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Occupational Industry at the OSHA Training Institute Education Center at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta. This training is one of two OSHA courses that, once completed, will authorize Clint to train employees from the construction industry…
Dry Ice Cleans Machinery (And Freckles!)
“Freckles Frozen Off With Dry Ice” That was a headline from an article printed in 1933 about an Italian doctor using dry ice to remove freckles. Keep in mind now that dry ice is minus 109 degrees F. That’s COLD. The article went on to say that the dry ice was in contact with the freckle for…
Care of Polished Concrete Floors
Polished concrete floor in an Army base warehouse We would like to think that your polished concrete floor looks as good today as the day it was installed, but unless you’ve done a good job cleaning, it probably doesn’t. Dirt is the enemy of a polished concrete floor. Here are some…
Daily Care of Polished Concrete
What you should do daily to care for your polished concrete: Blackwell’s Inc. recommends the regular removal of dirt and debris using a gritless sweeping compound daily. Using sweeping compounds that contain emollient laden granules will attract and remove dust while leaving a reflection enhancer. In high traffic or heavy soiled areas, using an auto scrubber…