Lumber, Log, Decking, Flooring and Oak Beam Cleaning:

Removing Environmental Staining, paint, heavy soiling, soot, mold, and smoke are just a few contaminants you may want removed from wood. Reasons for cleaning wood range from restoration to remediation and the cleaning process you choose to remove these contaminants must be carefully considered before a decision is made. The processes available range from ineffective, to harsh and damaging causing disfigurement, so be careful.

Traditional Cleaning Methods:

Traditional Cleaning methods can usually be broken down into 3 categories: Water, Chemical, and Mechanical

Water: A low pressure water wash is often considered “not enough”, and a high-pressure wash or steam cleaning can destroy the wood while forcing moisture deep into the wood itself. This excess water may cause the wood to splinter, and future coatings to blister or peel.

Chemical: bleach, tri-sodium-phosphate, commercial cleaning products, and paint strippers can range from ineffective to harsh and damaging. In some cases, they must also be used in conjunction with mechanical cleaning methods and almost always are labour intensive.

 Mechanical Cleaning: hand tools, grinders, sanding discs, wire brushes, etc. all abrade the contaminants off the surface with damaging results and can be extremely labour intensive.

We offer these Environmentally Friendly Surface Restoration Methods:

• Dry Ice Blasting
• Wet Abrasive Blasting

Wet Abrasive Blasting

 like traditional sandblasting uses an abrasive media and compressed air to attain a desired finish on a chosen surface. However, unlike traditional sandblasting, water is introduced into the system to enhance the levels of surface finish that can be achieved. The benefit of including water is a much gentler blast with a smoother and more consistent finish.

In the hands of a skilled blast cleaning technician, Wet Abrasive Blasting can be aggressive enough to remove paint, or even adhesives or gentle and delicate enough to protect even the most intricate work in masonry, stone, terracotta, clay, marble, and limestone or brick.

Wet Abrasive Blasting Advantages:

• 92% dust reduction over other abrasive blasting methods
• Up to 10 times faster than manual cleaning
• Uses less than 2 pints of water per minute
• Chemical free
• Does not kill surrounding vegetation
• Reduced containment and disposal costs
• Environmentally friendly blast medias (recycled bottle glass)
• Water encapsulated lead and asbestos paints eliminating airborne particles