Thursday, August 09, 2007
Sandblasting finished
Sandblasting in action
We have been sandblasting (sableuse) the beams in the house today. I'm absolutely knackered, last time I did it I was knacked then, but I guess your body forgets pain.
The equipment was hired from Loxam
and came on a lorry Wednesday morning. They supplied a monster
compressor, the sandblaster, the protective helment, spare washers and
helmet visors and 45 sacks of sand
on a pallet. The plastic visors and the sand was on a sale or return
basis.
The sand used was a fine grade (marked 50/80 on the sacks) and we used 36 sacks to clean approximately 90 meters of beams. The beams with several coats of gloss paint on them were tougher than the ones stained with years of smoke and open fires etc. The plastic visor on the helmet has to be changed every 4 sacks or so because it becomes opaque with all the spray back. By standing slightly further away and trying to angle the nozzle slightly you can prolong the life of the visor a little.
Beams after sandblasting
Beams before andblasting
One thing that was explained by the hire shop was that they consider one day is 8 hours. The compressor had an engine hours meter, so you can't just hire for two days then blast away through the night or over a weekend to 'get your moneys worth'. As it turned out, at the end of today we phoned to say we'd be finished by 17:00 and could they come and collect all the stuff. Well they can't come until Monday but will only charge for 2 days. I've got a few bags of sand left on the pallet and about 3 engine hours left, but to honest I just can't face it anymore.
I didn't clean the underside of the floorboards because they are most probably going to be painted cream, otherwise I think too much wood can make the room too dark.
| 9:43:05 PM
Sandblasting finished
