Porch Job

Crank

I have a potential porch job and need some advise. It's a 10' X 28' concrete porch with several coats of paint. Some of the paint is peeling down to the concrete. The home owner wants to strip it down to bare concrete, put a sealer on it and be done with it. I've never blasted anything except wood so this is new to me. I was hoping to be able to use black diamond since I can get it locally. Is this a good choice or should I use something different? Also, is $2.00/sq. ft. a fair price (for blasting only)? Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks
Crank

CO2Solutions

I'm not sure about other types of media blasting for this but I did a ton of concrete slabs (paint removal) via pressure washing this past summer - not something I'd normally do but it did the job. As far as price goes, that's just about what I charged per square foot. The property management group didn't want sand/soda or any other type of media used that would make a mess - settled on water. Of course your power washer would have to be a larger more powerful unit.

Not much help, but just my experience.

painter213

That should be just fine. Just make sure that you use a fine mesh media and lower your pressure to around 80 pound. You do not want to blast down into the concrete and expose aggregate. As you blast, some of the coating will be bonded better than other areas and this will cause you to make little MESA'S in the concrete if your not careful. As far as your pricing, that is up to you. You know your expenses.

__________________
Benny Abbott
Abbott Consulting and Coating Inspections
E-Mail: babbott@abbottcoatinginspections.com
Phone: (205-717-0292)

Crank

Thanks for the input. What size pressure washer would I need?

Crank

Thanks for the advise. In regards to the price, this will be my first experience blasting anything other than wood. I'm confindent that I won't lose money, but I also don't want to be screwing the customer.

CO2Solutions

Well, I have a 4000psi 4GPM unit - which was plenty enough for the job that I did. Although, the adhesiveness of the paint on the concrete will vary...guess you won't know until you do some tests?

good luck!

BLASTPRO

charging by the sq is tough, there are to many unknowns with any and every job. I charge by the hour with a very rough guess on how long it might take. Once we get into it for about an hour I update the customer on if my rough guess will be accurate. Asking me how long it will take to blast something is like asking me how long a peice is string is! It tough. Good Luck.

Crank

Thank you all for your help. I talked with the guy last week and he had tried to pressure wash it himself without much luck. He then slapped on another coat of paint and decided to forget about it. I did however have another prospect email me today about removing the bottom paint off a wooden boat. I may be posting questions for that one later.

Crank