Preparation
Optimum Flooring Services Ltd complete all preparation on every project we undertake. Our teams use the latest technology in mechanical floor preparation equipment from grinding and scabbling to shot blasting. Our vacuum attached equipment prevents 95% of dust from entering the atmosphere, meaning that our preparation is virtually dust free and suitable for use in every environment including the food industry.
Grinding
Our three-phase and single-phase mechanical diamond grinding machines are a lot more than a high-end industrial sander and are used for many varied tasks such as the removal of existing coatings, latex and adhesives, to the smoothing out of uneven surfaces where high spots and divots are present.
Shotblasting
This popular method of preparation fires a repeated blast into the surface removing any weak concrete, dirt, laitance and contamination. Depending on what system is laid onto the floor following preparation by shotblasting, this can sometimes leave a tram line effect where the shotblasting mirrors through the finished system.
Scabbling & Scarifying
Scabbling preparation machines use compressed air to fire small bits into the surface, and more often than not this leads to the surface being rougher than when using other methods of preparation. Scabbling can remove up to 20mm from concrete floors in a timely manner, something that isn’t possible by the way of grinding and shotblasting.
Scarifying machines or planers as they can be called cut or scar the surface leaving a rough, textured or clean finish which is achieved by the use of a cutting tool which rotates like a drum. Scarifying is becoming a method used less and less in floor preparation as grinding technology advances, and it does however create dust and a lot of noise, meaning for projects we undertake where the business is still running day to day this method of preparation wouldn’t be an option.
With grinders that have pressure-controlled rubber mounted non-planetary grinding heads and specially designed diamonds, you are able to grind and/or polish without scouring the concrete, even on cracks and expansion joints. The specialist disc, embedded with a coarse diamond grit can easily prepare, clean and abrade existing coatings for re-coat. This process will remove thin layer coatings and weak toppings and provide a textured finish suitable for two coatings to bond together. Should an existing coating be already down that is fundamentally adhering very well to the surface but one that simply needs rejuvenating, the keying off this existing surface in order to accept a further coat can also be easily achieved. In comparison to shot blasting, diamond grinding is relatively is slow and intensive. However, the finish left can be far smoother. In some cases, we are asked to actually polish the surface to a super smooth finish very similar to a polished concrete effect.
Our Diamond Grinding Machines are much more than an industrial “sander”, however the concept is the same. They are used for many and varied applications, from the ‘keying’ of existing surfaces, removal of existing paint and weak laitance, to the smoothing out of uneven surfaces. On some instances, we could actually roughen the surface to achieve higher levels of slip resistance. Diamond grinding can smooth out floors to a laser level finish, removing minor pits and divots, high spots and roughness on concrete floors. Should two slabs of concrete be poorly laid to a different height, the grinder is used to smooth out the transition from one slab to the other. A huge benefit of the system is that all machines, ranging from simple hand held grinders to the biggest ride-on machines can all be connected to industrial dust recovery units (vacuums). This, in turn, means that we can achieve a 95% dust free operation.