Sandblasting bricks: what is needed and how is it carried out?

Sandblasting bricks is an effective procedure for cleaning facades and is widely used in restoring the original appearance of residential buildings and industrial buildings.

Sandblasting is a set of measures for the purification of brickwork from soot, dirt, soot, white residue and drawings. The procedure is carried out using special equipment, called sandblasting. The use of such a device returns brick walls to their original appearance and significantly slows down the process of stone destruction. Despite the rather powerful mechanical effect of the abrasive jet on the brick, the material does not crumble and does not lose its operational properties.

The principle of sandblaster installation is as follows: compressed air is mixed with sand, under high pressure with the help of a compressor is fed into the gun and sprayed over the surface. As a result, the brickwork is cleaned of dirt and acquires a neat and well-groomed appearance. In addition, the impact of the air-abrasive mixture effectively destroys fungi and bacteria, the destructive activity of which over time leads to the destruction of bricks.

Despite the name of the equipment, not only sand is used as a working mixture for sandblasting. Excellent results of cleaning the walls can be achieved by treating bricks with corundum, kupper slag, glass balls, nickel slag, as well as plastic and ceramic shot. The choice of material depends on the type of brick, the age of laying, climatic conditions and the nature of the pollution of the facade.

Sandblasting brick walls is considered one of the most effective ways to bring buildings in a satisfactory condition and is carried out in a number of cases.

• Purification of fresh wall from cement residue. The procedure is performed sparingly using medium-grain sand.
• Removal of efflorescence and traces of precipitation. This type of pollution is especially noticeable on facades made of red ceramic bricks. Such walls are prone to the appearance of whitish streaks and stains, which is a very negative impact on the appearance of buildings.
• Cleaning out corrosive stains. Structures built from white silicate bricks often suffer from this type of pollution. Metal facade elements such as balcony fittings, hooks for electrical wires and external fire protection stairs often do not have an anti-corrosion coating and eventually begin to rust.During the rain, rust begins to run down the walls along with water jets, leaving red rusty streaks behind it. Such pollution greatly spoils the appearance of buildings, and nothing, except as a sandblaster, is removed.

• Removal of mold and mildew. This type of pollution has a very negative impact not only on the overall appearance of the facade, but also causes a serious threat of destruction of the material. Sandblasting allows you to remove the pores of the fungus deep into the brick and permanently rid the walls of gray-green ugly spots.
• Cleaning of internal brick walls from the remnants of old paint and plaster. When carrying out repairs, it is often necessary to remove the old decorative coating from the walls, and it is better that a single unit cannot cope with the sandblaster installation. Abrasive material carefully leaches the surface, leaving behind a perfectly clean brick.

• Artificial aging of the wall of ceramic bricks. Lovers of loft, Provence, country, techno, Gothic, as well as connoisseurs of traditional English interiors often use this technique.As a result of the mechanical effect of the working mixture, numerous shcherbinki and depressions appear on the brick, and they look so natural and vital that it is almost impossible to distinguish artificially aged material from the original centenary stone. To achieve the best effect, along with sand, nickel slag, glass beads and ceramic shot are used.
• Processing of the working surface before applying plaster or paint and varnish mixtures. In this case, sandblasting contributes to the formation of a rough surface, which significantly increases the adhesion and significantly increases the service life of the decorative coating.
• Removal of greasy and oily stains. When cleaning the surface from this kind of dirt, sand or slag is used as an abrasive component.

Sandblasting is done in several ways, and the choice of the right one is made taking into account the nature of the pollution and the ultimate goal of the event.

• The most common is the classic way in which sand, mixed with compressed air, is thrown onto a wall under high pressure, producing an emery paper effect.
• The following method is called wet and is used for particularly polluted surfaces containing old stains and dried remnants of mortar. The essence of this method consists in mixing the abrasive substance with water and then spraying the resulting composition onto the brickwork.

• A very effective technique is the treatment of surfaces with the help of ice, which allows to remove pollution from hard-to-reach places. In this case, the sand is replaced with small particles of natural or artificial ice and under high pressure serves them on the wall.
• The fourth method is a thermal, or, as it is also called, fiery processing, which consists in the simultaneous spraying of sand and combustible material. The use of fiery cleaning contributes to the complete destruction of bio-distractors such as mosses, mold, fungi and pathogens.

When performing sandblasting should be extremely careful and be sure to follow safety precautions. The procedure should only be performed using personal protective equipment such as a face shield and goggles.

In addition to physical injuries, working with sandblasting equipment without the use of protective equipment is fraught with such a terrible disease as silicosis. The disease causes severe damage to the lung tissue and occurs as a result of sand dust entering the respiratory tract. Therefore, when working with sandblasting equipment, regardless of what type of abrasive is currently used, it is necessary to use a fine respirator or a helmet with forced air supply. Ears also need to be protected from strong noise using industrial headphones.

Sandblasting is considered the most effective way to return the brickwork to its original appearance and significantly increase the life of the buildings.

On how to work sandblasting, see the following video.