What Dust Control Methods Can You Use While Hand Grinding?

It is always important to use sufficient dust control methods while using a Hand Grinder for your health and safety this usually involves using a large range of different methods, but the most important is to always attach a high-powered commercial dust collector plugged directly into your Hand Grinder. This is the most efficient way to control and remove dust. The following methods below can also be used:

Ensure good ventilation: Ensure there is good ventilation in the area.

Wear a respirator: Wear a full-face respirator to prevent breathing in dust.

Use a dust shroud: Connect a dust shroud to a vacuum to suck dust away before it reaches you.

Use an air duct hose and fan: Air duct hoses are a great and cheap way to remove dust from the room.

Use an air scrubber: Mobile air scrubbers can be used to draw air in from your home and pass it through a series of filters.

Use plastic sheeting: Use plastic sheeting to trap dust and debris and prevent it from damaging other surfaces or equipment.

Use a dust extractor: Using an M or H-class dust extractor to collect dust while grinding concrete floors can reduce the amount of dust produced by up to 99.99%.

Wet cutting: Wetting the concrete before Grinding can reduce the amount of dust produced by up to 85%. Wetting the concrete also helps keep the diamond blade cool and extend its life.

Another option to control dust is wetting the concrete the wet process is the oldest way of Hand Grinding and polishing concrete. Many people prefer it for the simple reason that it has been around the longest, and they learned to grind or polish concrete using this method. It’s also a simple way to control dust if a dust extraction machine or commercial vacuum isn’t able to be used or isn’t available.

The Advantages Of Wet Hand Grinding Are:

– Almost no dust goes airborne thus reducing the need for respirators or dust collectors and vacuums.

– The diamond discs/plugs run cooler.

– You can use the amount of water to govern the rate of wear on the diamonds.

The Disadvantages Of Wet Hand Grinding Are:

– Makes a horrible mess often having to have another machine sucking up the slurry or additional labourers sweeping it out of the way.

– The floor must be dried for a long period of time after wetting to ensure a moisture-free substrate is achieved before any recoating or reinstallation of flooring systems.

– The concrete dust slurry will often stick into the pores of the concrete and when dried and then coating applied it can’t stick to this dried slurry causing a debonding issue with your new coating or flooring system.

– Disposal of concrete dust slurry water is often restricted more than dust and can be annoying to handle and dispose of.

– The Hand Grinder becomes very dirty and has to be cleaned after use to maintain it and often needs to be cleaned on the job if it’s a large area.

The Advantages of Dry Hand Grinding Are:

– The job is much easier to clean as well as keep clean if you need to do a second pass with the grinders.

– No slurry issues and the frustration of dealing with it.

– The surface is dry and ready to vacuum and coat or install a new flooring system immediately.

– You can see the results immediately while you Hand Grind.

– The Hand Grinder is a lot easier to maintain and components generally last a lot longer.

The Disadvantages Of Dry Hand Grinding Dry Are:

– Dust is a health hazard as well as whatever else goes into the air, depending on what you’re removing from the concrete such as magnesite residue, or asbestos vinyl residue which means the dust in the air could contain asbestos.

– The dust must be controlled with sufficient equipment and PPE to prevent inhalation and respiratory health risks.

– Dust can be hard to collect using cheap vacuums and requires special purpose-built dust collectors to maintain airflow without the filter constantly getting blocked from the concrete dust.

– Usually, high-powered commercial vacuums or dust collectors are needed.

– If the incorrect tooling is used Hand Grinder can overheat easily and cause glazing.