Any tips for hand grinding a floor?

[v7guy]

Just started grinding, looks like it's going to go pretty quickly (holy cow is that a TON of dust) but I'm having trouble with getting lines in the floor here and there. Part of it seems to be that the floor is really not very flat/level, the other part I'm sure is me.

Basically I'm setting the 7" grinder on the floor and letting the weight of the grinder do the work while I pass it back and forth.

I've read the other threads that you have to get a feel for it. But I'm not "getting it" yet

Any pointers?

 

[djjsr]

Wear a REALLY GOOD dust mask. Concrete dust can cause bad things.

 

[v7guy]

yea, I've got a respirator and goggles. I like breathing and seeing.

 

[supertooljunkie]

Wear the best dust mask you can afford. The dust gets in your lungs and causes silicosis. That will kill you to death!!

 

[v7guy]

worked for another 20 minutes and the dust is so heavy I can't see across the garage, pretty crazy. Ordering a dust shroud on amazon and a hepa filter for the vacuum.

Still had no luck with the floor not getting grooves. The concrete is so wavy that it's hard to get the paint off the low spots and not grind the hell out of the higher spots creating grooves. Only worked about a 2x5 ft area so far. in the pic you can see the lines and some of the swirl and waves. I have no idea if I'm doing this right.

 

[haugy]

I hosed my floor and kept it pretty wet when I grinded. No dust at all. I used a large walk-behind edco grinder though too.

 

[mark52621]

I used a hose to keep the floor wet while working on it. No dust at all.

As far as tips keep the grinder flat so the edge doesn't cut a groove, and keep it moving quickly. You should be able to feel when the piece your working on is smooth enough to move on.

I use three different grinding wheels when I did my floor: hargor freight, menards, and diamondbladedealer.com. Without question the blade from diamondbladedealer.com was the best.

Most importantly remember it's just a floor, don't go to crazy over it.

 

[v7guy]

I'm not sure how good of an idea it is to be kneeling on a wet floor with a grinder and extension cord... not to say I haven't done worse... maybe I'm just paranoid though.