Sandblasting Equipment

[mbrule]

As I stated earlier, no matter how well you attempt to seal the dust will be everywhere in your house. You might want to also rent a huge fan and put it in a door.

You should be able to recycle the black beauty. the 3/16" tip is not very big, the process will still be fairly slow. Make sure that the black beauty is small enough to be used effectively with that nozzle size. BE CAREFUL Black Beauty is SHARP it will cut fast and likely strip the grout right out.

I once used a large sandblaster and commercial compressor to sandblast a vintage car frame (I don't know the details of the sizing of the equipment), but with the black beauty that was in it it was PITTING the steel frame, and it had a 4" swath as we were basting. I removed the Black Beauty. backed the pressure down and used fine sand. Typical sandblast sand is 00, I used "50", I don't understand the nomenclature, but the sand that I used and still do use is finer than 'typical' sandblast sand. My point: try a small area first and adjust tip size / speed / pressure as necessary to avoid damage.

 

[mbrule]

And, I agree, I would not like to meet whomever painted that!!!!!!!

You should remove the ceiling fan before blasting...

 

[haulnazz15]

And, I agree, I would not like to meet whomever painted that!!!!!!!

You should remove the ceiling fan before blasting...

Might be a good idea, especially since the fan in that picture is no longer there, but was replaced by a nice modern unit.

 

[haulnazz15]

As I stated earlier, no matter how well you attempt to seal the dust will be everywhere in your house. You might want to also rent a huge fan and put it in a door.

You should be able to recycle the black beauty. the 3/16" tip is not very big, the process will still be fairly slow. Make sure that the black beauty is small enough to be used effectively with that nozzle size. BE CAREFUL Black Beauty is SHARP it will cut fast and likely strip the grout right out.

I once used a large sandblaster and commercial compressor to sandblast a vintage car frame (I don't know the details of the sizing of the equipment), but with the black beauty that was in it it was PITTING the steel frame, and it had a 4" swath as we were basting. I removed the Black Beauty. backed the pressure down and used fine sand. Typical sandblast sand is 00, I used "50", I don't understand the nomenclature, but the sand that I used and still do use is finer than 'typical' sandblast sand. My point: try a small area first and adjust tip size / speed / pressure as necessary to avoid damage.

The black beauty is "FINE" grade 60-80 grit, and my thought with the smaller tip size was to keep the spray pattern narrower to have more control over it. The first hour or so will be trial and error I'm sure with different pressures/tip sizes in order to find a combination that doesn't cause much damage and still allows me to get this project done in a couple of days.

 

[chim]

Interesting project. It would help if you put a box fan in the window, and if there's another window one there too. The door can serve as a fresh air intake. If you can keep a slightly negative air pressure in the workspace, it will greatly reduce the amount of dust getting into the rest of the house. You won't get a perfect seal with the plastic sheeting, so you want house air coming into the workspace at all the little leaks. Without maintaining a bit of negative pressure in the dirty area the dust will be a problem.

For masking off things you don't want blasted, you could probably get by with a few pieces of sheet metal with short "handles" to keep your body parts away from the action.

 

[SPIKER]

If you do I would suggest at least 2 layers of plastic as the sand can bounce back & damage the 1st one or an errant swing of the nozzle could tear it off easy.

good luck & know that the remaining surface of the rock will also be rough from the blasting. the natural weathered finish would be gone more than likely.

& agree whom ever did that should be examined for mental issues.
Mark

 

[zzvyb6]

I would not use a sandblaster. Heat gun ? And it may be lead paint. So, I'd either repaint it, or tear it down and put up a better wall, or cover most of it with drywall. Possibly even covering part of it with tile, or fake stone, or fake real stone, or even real stone. Maybe a partial stone around the fireplace and the rest drywall. I have a mid-70's house with similar roof beams and large areas, etc. Nothing looks better than the real stone fireplace look surrounded by conventional walls which are painted in colors other than beige, putty, toupe or what ever realtors call very light brown. My (real) beams are natural wood flavored, too.

View attachment 312549View attachment 312548

 

[Scooby074]

Another vote for Dry Ice blasting.

Ive ran one. They are awesome for something like this.

 

[haulnazz15]

It's definitely latex paint that was put on probably 5 years ago or less. No lead paint in this house, so I'm not worried about that. If I were to re-rock it, I'd dry wall everything but the mantle/sitting area, but I'm not really looking to spend several grand on a few pallets of rock and labor to build it. It would be difficult to cover the wall with anything as the stone has a very uneven surface, so getting a flush fit with any fake stone or tile would be impossible. The crappy realtor internet pic doesn't show the rock texture very well. I kind of figured that if it cleans off 95% of the paint, I'll be thrilled. Even if it scored/pitted the stone a bit, it would look a heck of a lot better than a huge red eyesore. If it doesn't work, I'll just have to spray over the red with a more modest color until I decide to re-rock it.

A second layer of plastic is a good idea, and a box fan will be doable in the window too, in order to exhaust out the dust. The door is on the opposite side of the work area, so it should work fairly well like that. Luckily, there isn't anything I'm worried about damaging in the area, as the bar will be painted and the counter top is cheap Formica and will be replaced after all of this work is done.

These are some good tips guys, I really do appreciate the feedback.

 

[HarryN]

Interesting job... If you blast, take pictures for us...
I vote to re-rock. Do it once and do it right! Plus you'll have the stone and look you want in the first place.