Media Blasting Services
The process of media blasting seems simple, add some aggregate to a blasting pot, hook it up to an air compressor, and then blast away. There are also many contractors out there that have media blasting equipment, but is it the right equipment for the job and more importantly are they qualified to use that equipment? If a contractor that has little to no experience operating the equipment, blasting media can cause quite a bit of damage to a log. At Log Home Rescue, we like to say that it’s not the equipment, it’s the operator behind the equipment that can either restore your log home to look as good as new, or damage your logs beyond repair. Your home is most likely your most important investment. As log home owners ourselves, we understand the importance of keeping it in impeccable condition.
Let’s talk about what you can expect from media blasting, and why media blasting may be a better option than using a pressure washer with chemical strippers and cleaners. Many log homes are off-the-grid and a public water source is not an option. This is a problem when pressure washing a log home requires an output of water at a rate of 3-5 gallons per minute, an average of 1000 gallons or more to complete your job. Media blasting requires no water, this is known as a dry strip. Another reason to media blast is if your log home has been painted or has multiple coats of another finish product. Getting down to bare wood would be costly when stripping your logs multiple times with a pressure washer. It would save you money and time to media blast and quickly remove the old finish.
We often get asked if media blasting is messy? Absolutely, but we do everything we can in order to ensure that at the end of the job to leave the site as clean as when we got there. At Log Home Rescue, our prep work and restoration quotes include laying tarps to cover yard and landscape, removing light fixtures, covering doors and windows with plastic, and also prepping the interior of your home with plastic in case any dust comes through the logs. After our blasting is completed, our employees do a thorough cleanup to remove all debris and help put back any heavy furniture.
After blasting, you will notice your logs may have a pitted appearance, similar to what an orange peel may look like. At this point most contractors will think they are finished and ready to apply a stain, some will even give the logs a quick wipe down before staining. At Log Home Rescue we like to take an extra step to make sure all logs, trim, ceilings and anything that we blasted is sanded to remove any debris in the logs and the pitting or grooving the blasting may have caused. When it comes time to applying the finish, the results are night and day when the sanding is done correctly.