Captive shot blasting (also known as captive blasting and shotblasting) is the process of firing highly abrasive steel shot at a surface like concrete or asphalt. The machine that is commonly used for captive shotblasting works by driving the steel at the surface at high speed. The rebounding shot, debris and dust from the broken surface is collected, and the shot is separated to be reused again for further blasting.
This method means that minimal dust is left or lost in the work environment.
Captive shot blasting is useful for various resurfacing requirements. It effectively removes lines and coatings from floors and roads to leave the surface primed for skid resistance, pavement marking and steel preparation at docks.
Captive shot blasting is a wise move when preparing new concrete surfaces for line marking – but many contractors take short cuts and avoid this important stage.
As a trusted car park marking contractor in the UK, Roadgrip Car parks recommend shot blasting because it increases the longevity of car park markings. If you don’t remove the laitance on new concrete, you’re applying the paint to a weak layer of fine particles and water that have risen to the surface and aren’t fully adhered to the concrete underneath. By blasting a small amount of the concrete off the top, the paint will adhere to a much stronger surface.
Fortunately, Amazon are one company that appreciate the benefits of captive blasting, as you can see in this project at Darlington.
For this job, we only blasted the areas where markings were going to be applied, for efficiency and speed. We then applied a single epoxy paint to the concrete and thermoplastic markings to the tarmac to clearly mark out the staff car park and service yard.
Despite the unpredictable and unseasonably wet and windy weather of the UK’s 2019 summer, we completed line marking works to all of the external areas at the Darlington site.
Amazon now have car park markings and yard markings that have been applied in such a way to increase lifespan and future costs.
If you would like to find out more about captive shot blasting and road marking, please contact the friendly, expert team at Roadgrip.
Find out more about car park marking or take a look at our recent projects to see how we work.
