Solaris 320_1

Shotblasting 101

Where can a Shotblaster be used?

Any contractor preparing concrete floors for Cementitious Screeds, Coatings or even Polished Concrete should carefully consider whether a shotblaster will not only do the preparation properly but will save a lot of time and money as well.

It is easy to fall into the trap of “Everyone else is using Diamond Grinders so they must be the right machines to have…” Floorex manufactures Diamond Grinders, so we you can be sure we are saying this “as it is.”

Another thing is that for some reason contractors hold back because they speak to a guy who thinks he has had some level of experience Shotblasting, or in preparation generally, and he reckons Shotblasting is more expensive, or it damages the floor too much.

Maybe they learnt to use a Shotblaster from someone who also had no training and just found a way to make it function, and feels his experience is worth something.

Floorex does not just see one or two preparation contractors per year, we see hundreds, or thousands, so we see the larger picture and we like to pass this onto contractors who are keen on doing their job well and save you money and time.

Beware of a company who sells a limited range and maybe only diamond grinders; I would hardly feel that you could get a balanced opinion from a company selling a single style of machine.

The first question to ask myself?

The first question then is what percentage of your time is spent preparing for coatings, membranes, or cementitious screeds?

Maybe you have thought a few times about adding a Shotblaster to your range of preparation machines; but worry that you may not find enough uses for the machine.

A classic example is a contractor who does around 50% of his time in preparation and the rest applying coatings, and maybe currently has one or more grinder set-ups.

Or it could be that some-one who is going to set-up in applying waterproofing or other thick coatings is the right candidate for a Shotblaster, not a Grinder.

Benefits of Diamond Grinding versus Shotblasting

There is no doubt that a Diamond Grinder is a very useful, and versatile machine, often as the first machine you invest in.

If I were doing general coatings of Garages or Workshop/Warehouse floors, a Diamond grinder makes sense; it’s why we manufacture these machines and why we sell so many of them.

However, there are many times when a contractor is going to save a lot of money if he has a Shotblaster as well, and sometimes instead of a Diamond Grinder.

  • If you are doing a substantial amount of prep work for screeds and waterproofing membranes, and similar overlays, these products almost without exception are prepared at a lower cost per sq metre with Shotblasters than Diamond grinding.
  • If you are preparing for thinner coatings and especially where it must look cosmetically good, diamond grinding is going to work well.

What you may not have thought of is that a beautiful slab can be produced by doing a light/medium grind, then follow with a light shotblast.

If you follow with a fine shot, you can produce a very fine surface that is dust free ready to coat with outstanding adhesion and taking no longer overall to prepare.

The advantage also is that on many “over-troweled” slabs it may be difficult to get a full grind, but by taking off the unevenness with the grinder, then shotblast, you can save a lot of headaches.