Special
Ride-on machines for roughening up old floors, the removal of tiles, old carpet, adhesive residue, etc…
RIDE-ON FLOOR STRIPPERS FOR ‘BIG JOBS’ THE QUESTION IS: TO BUY, HIRE, OR OUTSOURCE? reasons. Carpet strippers have powerful motors (drive motors and stroke motors). The working width, the cutting section, of carpet strippers varies from 20 to 35 centimetres. The more carpet you have to remove, the wider the carpet stripper can be. The bigger the blade, the more carpet you can strip in one cut.
From Benjamin to Goliath Tools are classified according to weight and capacity. There is a direct link between the surface to be covered and the choice of tool. Medium and larger tools have weights of 50 to 100kg, usually with an option to add more weight. In the big workhorse segment it is quite possible to find weights of 160 to 200kg. For very large surfaces there are ‘ride-on’ floor strippers. These machines are comparable to ride-on lawn mowers for large grass surfaces. The weight can be around one tonne. We found an example of battery autonomy for such a ride-on machine of about one tonne. It can operate for about eight hours with a fully charged battery. Charging for one hour gives an extra working hour.
Photo – Janser
It goes without saying that floor strippers are designed to strip floors! This means that in the room where we go to work there is a floor or floor covering which has to be removed to make way for something new. This obviously also means that we’re on the renovation market. That is an attractive and lucrative market, were it not for the fact that the figures in recent years have gone up and down like a yoyo with huge expectations one moment and depressing prospects shortly afterwards. But no complaints! The average movement is forwards. The renovation market is still growing.
Battery-powered strippers in action Using a carpet or floor stripper is the easy way to strip floor coverings (such as carpet, vinyl, and linoleum) away from concrete and wooden floors. Carpet strippers make small thrusting motions with a flat and sharp section which you position against the edge of carpet, vinyl, linoleum, parquet, tiles, and such like. In this way you use the stripper to remove the floor covering easily thrust by thrust. One of the main variations between carpet strippers is the number of thrusts per minute. Usually, the number of thrusts per minute is around five thousand. Most carpet strippers are powered by electricity (battery). Capacities vary greatly between 1500 and 2600 watts. As is the case for other site tools, there is a strong preference for cable-free tools, partly for safety
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Ride-on machines The really heavy machines are mavericks. Their success does not depend on the aforementioned fluctuations on the renovation market. Indeed, when we talk about the renovation market, we usually mean assignments on the private home alteration market. The surfaces for which ride-on floor strippers are deployed do not fit into that category. We’re talking more about sports floors, gymnasia, event locations, offices, and major stores. Clients who buy these machines are major contractors or project developers or major subcontractors specialising in the renovation of large surfaces, and building machine hire companies. Here and there we find companies which strip large floor surfaces as their core business. And so, outsourcing is also possible!
Features of professional machines 1. They are easy to operate and the tools are controlled hydraulically. 2. The operate silently and have no exhaust fumes. 3. The work surface can be adjusted in height and angle. 4. There is no swivel loss and the tyres leave no marks. 5. They are easy to transport, load, and unload and they fit into lifts and pass through standard-size doors. 6. They offer an extensive choice of work surfaces. 7. They have various options for adding weight.
