Last month, our team carried out a large scale project in Newport involving the grinding back and part refinishing of an industrial concrete floor. It was an unusual brief in that the required finish was not to be The location was a very large warehouse which had formerly housed a Carlsberg brewery. The initial survey had determined that the concrete floor could be ground back and polished, but that it was very uneven and that some areas had paint that would need to be stripped. Not only this, but the complexity of the TV set meant that access & Health & Safety were also concerns.
Initial shots & test-clean of concrete in an industrial warehouse
As the images demonstrate, commercial cleaning in a dynamic environment like a TV set will require careful planning.
The multiple trip hazards and a constantly shifting workspace mean that technicians will need to maintain high levels of alertness throughout what will inevitably be quite a monotonous task.
The delicate nature of the plywood “flats” and sets also means that our technicians will need to be on their A – game to ensure nothing is damaged while the work is completed. It would definitely have been a simpler process prior to the building of the sets!
Commercial Concrete Grinding & Polishing – the job stage-by-stage
Stripping the paint from the concrete
The initial test had shown that the areas of concrete where paint was an issue had a significant build-up of historic layers of emulsion paint. For this reason, we specified a fairly aggressive stripper which we covered in plastic sheeting to intensify the process. In some areas, we gave it up to 2 hours “dwell”.
Grinding the concrete floors
Once the paint had been removed from the concrete, we could begin the grinding back of the floors. The designer & Art Department had specified that the floor be taken back to a more even finish, but that some of the grain of the industrial floor remain. This would then be able to take an additional topical polish to add visual interest to each scene.
For this task, we use a dustless system with industrial vacuums connected to a FTR floor grinder.
The images show the impact that the initial diamond grit has on the historic finish of even a tough floor like this.
As the job proceeded over the 300m2 space over the succeeding days, we moved up through successive grits to take the floor to the required level…
Final polish on concrete flooring
In the event, the scale of this job meant we didn’t take enough photos to document the work start to finish. In total, the work took a rotating team of two technicians across 4 days.
If you have any queries about concrete cleaning, concrete polishing or concrete grinding, feel free to get in touch.
If you would like to find out more about our services in the South Wales area, read more here…
Thanks for reading!