Scabbling

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Scabbling

Floor scabbling is a safe, quick and cost-effective way to prepare concrete surfaces requiring more than a simple grind or shotblast.

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Why Scabbling?

Scabbling is the ideal solution for the removal of heavily contaminated concrete (where the contamination has penetrated well into the surface), to the build-up of hard deposits left on surface from glues, production overspill or toppings or left from previous flooring methods. Furthermore, they can also be used for anywhere between the removal of single high spots to the reduction in the level of a complete floor area.

We would however like to make you fully aware that the use of a scabbling machine will, in most cases, leave a relatively heavily profiled surface. Our installers will therefore utilise one of our vacuum-assisted diamond grinding machines to smooth out the surface to the required levels depending upon the customer’s requirements/choice of final floor finish.

What is scabbling?

There are many different sizes and types of scabblers and planers but in essence they are all built around the same basic theory. Our professional scabbling machines have a rotating drum mounted with a series of flails designed to strike the surface in a fast, repetitive action, to break, loosen and remove material.

These machines have such incredible strength, they can effectively remove surfaces from as little as 1mm to as much as 20mm thick.

These machines can be used on clean or contaminated surfaces but it is important that in either case the surface must be free of any surface build up of dirt or oily layers.

When would we recommend scabbling a floor?

We would recommend scabbling If you are looking to prepare a surface that is rough, or where you are looking to reduce the floor height slightly. It is also highly effective on floor that for years has been heavily contaminated with oily or greasy materials.

The example here was for a company that was involved in heavy engineering and for around 40 years this floor had been subject to heavy oil and substance contamination. In areas a layer of 10-15 mm of oil and liquid absorption pellets had built up. We removed the surface build of contamination with a ride on scrapper and then scabbled the surface to effectively remove a layer of weak, contaminated concrete and reveal a stronger screed below.