Abrasive Blasting

Abrasive Blasting or better known in lower-tech circles as “sand blasting”, is the simple principle of propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high air or water pressure.  The process is most often used to strip paint and rust from structures prior to them being coated or restored. There are may different abrasive materials that can be utilized depending on the end goal and what the substrate being stripped is.

Some of the more common media we use include:

Sand – Where the media is silica sand driven at high forces to the object to be cleaned or stripped.  Sand blasting is commonly used on sound substrate materials such as steel, metals and sound masonry structures.  It can also be used to etch glass or shape materials like wood for signs.

Dry Ice – Advances on the basics of traditional sand blasting replacing the silica with dry ice particles and increasing the air compressed air pressure.  Dry ice  (a soft media) allows for the cleaning and stripping of more delicate parent material like aged brick or wood structures or where excessive dust and airborne particulate may otherwise be undesirable.  Dry ice sublimates on contact with the surface so that only the stripped material dead-falls to floor, making it ideal for mould or lead-based paint abatement under controlled and restricted access sites.

Shot – Uses metallic shot or grit (steel, copper, aluminum or zinc) is considered a synthetic hard media made of industrial by-products like slag from steel mills) or can be highly engineered from aluminum or ceramics.  The shot used in a particular project is generally governed by the parent material, the environment and the desired result.

GMW Restoration Services offers a variety of abrasive stripping including sand, dry-ice and shot blasting in the Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto Ontario areas.  Contact us to find out more about our abrasive blasting services and to discuss the custom parameters of your project.