Exterior Cleaning & Blasting

A subscriber recently left me a comment on my sandblasting news blog about using a sandblaster for cleaning grafitti and other grim from buildings as shown below:

To whom this may concern,

My name is Keilian Knudsen.  I would like to know which type of blast media to use for cleaning the exterior facade of buildings. The types of surfaces we will be working on are Sandstone and Concrete. Removing unwanted products (i.e. grafitti, biological growth, pollution, paint). Currently we use aluminum oxide which is too abrasive, however I have been considering basking soda and garnet. What could you recommend for an enclosed waste management system driven by air pressure. I have looked into crushed glass and recyclable plastic.
I would really appreciate your response. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards, Keilian Knudsen

My Response:
Keilian, the problem with sandblasting exterior surfaces such as buildings and other concrete surfaces is that it can eat away at areas that you don’t want it to.

• Most people use a pressure washer sandblaster for this type of sandblasting. These blasters are basically pressure washers that mix abrasive in with the water.
• As you mentioned, another good process to try is soda blasting. Soda blasting is known to not damage the surface but clean away the grim or graffiti.
• If those processes don’t fit, you might be able to try other abrasive media as you suggested with light pressure and very fine grit. I would probably recommend 180 grit or finer if you did. Also keep a good distance

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