Special
Manually operated machines for roughening up old tiles and removing adhesive residue from old carpet
PREPARATION IS MORE THAN HALF THE JOB POINTS TO NOTE FOR MACHINES WHERE THE OPERATOR WALKS BEHIND THE APPLIANCE Imagine that you as a parquet floor fitter face an existing tile floor (ceramic or natural stone), an old carpet, or stubborn adhesive residue on a floor onto which you want to fit another floor. What is then your best choice of tool if you are looking for a machine which you can walk behind to operate it? If you consider the essence of the work, you have two choices. You either remove the entire structure or use the existing floor as a subfloor to glue parquet on top of it, for instance. The latter is perfectly okay on tiles as long as you meet a number of conditions, including roughening up the tiles.
Another choice which you have is to retain the existing floor and, for instance, fit floating laminate on top of it or even glue parquet onto a subfloor. In this case this is usually a tile floor, and that means you want a diamond-disc machine. Remember here that a diamond disc is necessary if you want to glue the floor, otherwise the parquet adhesive will not stick to the floor properly, if at all, since the surface has to be rough. Obviously, don’t forget to remove any grease before and after sanding!
Some specialists
Removing existing flooring
Janser
You want to remove the floor and you realise in advance that you don’t want to make this chore any more labour-intensive than it already is. And so, you basically rely on two sorts of machines, namely floor strippers or rotary disc machines. It’s important here to remember that most appliances are designed to loosen items such as carpet or linoleum, but you can also use them to remove tiles or old wooden floors. Above all, with these machines there’s one thing you shouldn’t forget: Since they require so much commitment, it’s best not only to consider the capacity, but also to ask some critical questions about the ergonomics of your preferred appliance.
In addition to an extensive assortment of sanding machines, Janser also offers an impressive range of strippers. The range includes hand machines, walk-behinds and ride-on giants to tackles large surfaces with no problem at all. The COSMO Stripper – a powerful stripper for small and medium-sized areas. Works on wooden or concrete surfaces and will remove virtually any substance adhering to the floor. The handle and wheel adjustments allow different settings of the blade to fit the floor, while keeping the handle in a proper operating position. Also foldable for easy transportation. The machine runs virtually silent with reduced vibrations. The COSMO Stripper has the ideal specifications for rental! The MASTER-MOBIL III is self-propelled (forward and reverse) with unparalleled performance due to its high torque German designed electric motor. The powerful motor combined with the revised HYDRAULIC-DIRECT-DRIVE system ensures high output with an extremely low noise level (105 kg and a maximum speed of 16m/min). Front weight and center weight can be easily removed for transportation. Wheel hubs with freewheel option for easy handling and easy
Strippers and rotary disc sanders Strippers always work basically in the same way; they have a flat section at the front, which presses against the existing flooring. Then, they make small thrusting motions to remove whatever is in their way. The speed of this operation depends on the number of thrusts per minute which your machine makes. The average machine can do about 5,000 thrusts. The various types of rotary disc sanders deploy a completely different removal method. These disc machines use various abrasives. Heavier abrasives are used if you need to remove things like adhesive residue. A tip: Look at how the drive discs are fastened. If the abrasive segments can be applied magnetically, that is undeniably a major asset.
The best choice And so, how do you choose the best tool? With walk-along strippers, the appliances start at a low weight, but they can go up to 50kg or much heavier, depending on the work. In each case, you look first at the blade width. The principle is simple: If there is a lot of material to remove, use a wider blade with a cutting width of 20-35cm. You then choose the knife in turn depending on the type of floor which you want to remove. Another tip here: You definitely want to avoid ‘messing around’ when changing work pieces, so make sure that this change proceeds as easily and safely as possible.
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Diamond disc
Floor Forum International 114
