What’s best for floor processing: grinding or blasting?
29.10.2018
Depending on the result you expect to achieve on the site, you could opt for either blasting or for grinding in order to process the floors. Based on the characteristics of each project in part in might be recommended to chose one or the other technology as each of them has particular advantages and disadvantages. In the end it is all about doing the right thing at the right time and not about trying to solve each problem while applying the same treatment everywhere.
When is grinding recommended?
The grinders are the option when one wishes to remove the rubber coatings or the elastomeric ones from the surface to be treated. The reason why grinders are better in this situation is that blasting would never allow a proper cleaning here. The steel shots would bounce from the floor without really removing the coverings from it.
The grinding machines are also the perfect choice when preparing the floors to be covered with carpets and grit stone. The profiles created through blasting would be in this case extremely rough and would not allow a proper adhesiveness of the finishing.
The grinders (specially the ones with planetary systems) are really indicated when willing to obtain a polished concrete surface. This would be impossible to be achieved with blasting.
Even so, blasting is the proper option in many other cases in which grinding would not deliver the best results.
When is blasting the most appropriate solution for floor processing?
Blasting helps cleaning and generates ideal concrete profiles for painting and other similar coatings. Some paint producers do not even offer any guarantee in case the floors are not blasted before covering works begin. Using grinders in this case would be of no help as the process does not offer the proper adhesiveness degree and is not assuring proper protection on long term, as it is the case of blasting.
Steel surfaces cannot be prepared using other techniques, but blasting.
Removing thin layers of adhesives and epoxy can be properly organized only through blasting. The grinding discs would get stocked with coverings and would become less efficient here. Using PCD (polycrystalline diamond discs) in this case would increase the grinding costs even more. Besides, blasting is faster and cheaper than grinding because during the process the only elements that needs to be replaced is the abrasive.
We hope that the information included in this article will help you in better understanding the advantages of each process in part as there is no universal solution, but just a proper one for each situation in part.