Crazy Grinding Question

[Kilgore Trout]

I am contemplating grinding my entire floor (350sq ft) with a 7inch grinder. My reasoning is that with the cost of the big grinder rental I could probably pay for about half of a new 7 inch grinder with a shroud and diamabrush. Moreover, I could take my time grinding rather than have to do it all in one day (one of the problems with renting) and I would have a 7 inch grinder (which I don't currently own) to boot.

While I know this will take longer, how bad of an idea is it? Will it take so long that it isn't worth it?

 

[NitroShark]

worth it. I did the same thing, but did 1685 sqft/ft.




Shawn

 

[argulator]

I did 600 square feet over the course of a few weekends working a few hours at a time with a 5" grinder. Worked out great

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Hope you have a good back, knee protection and some way to handle the dust. Good luck ! I did not have a good back or knees ....so I rented the 7 inch grinder.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Thanks everyone. I think I will give it a go with a 7 inch grinder with a dust shroud hooked to my shop vac. Any guesstimates on how many hours it will take to do 350 sq ft.

 

[EOT 4 Life]

I did 300 square feet in about 3 days on an outdoor area and feel I should have rented the larger machine as the muscles in my knees and back were aching a bit afterwards, and it seemed to go a bit slow. I did get some decent results though. There was a lot of concrete dust generated (even with the shop-vac), and every bag in the vac ripped on me too. I used a Diamabrush with a Makita grinder with the shroud and vacuum attachment. You can see my thread here to get a better idea:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4820808#post4820808

 

[ddewey78]

I just finished up about 425 sq/ft with a 7 inch. Wasn't fun, but it wasn't impossible. A few things I learned. BUY A DUST DEPUTY!! That thing is amazing. Lots of fine dust bags for the vacuum. Even though the dust deputy captures an amazing amount of dust, it still gets enough in the vac to plug the filter. What I did was keep a wand and floor attachment for the vac handy, and every 10-15 minutes stopped grinding and cleaned up behind me.

The dust shroud is not s set it and forget it item, I was constantly adjusting the depth to keep the diamabrush contact right. I went through 2 diamabrush wheels, pressure kills them. Good gloves, my grinder got HOT!! I wound up using one welding glove. Take your time and take lots of water breaks, it is tedious mind numbing work.

Overall I feel like I did better with a 7 inch than I could have with a big grinder, got a better feel for highs and lows in the floor. I'm guessing over 2 1/2 weeks I had about 20-25 hours in grinding.

 

[NitroShark]

how many hours it will take to do 350 sq ft.

I should take you about 1 to 2 hrs per 100 sq/ft. Get a grinder attachment with a top handle and a good dust Vac.

I did it without ever having my knees touch the ground.


Shawn

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Unless you have the stealth and fortitude of NitroShark, remember you have a greater chance of cutting into the floor with a hand-machine. They are typically used for edging and hard to reach areas.

Check out a Diamabrush rental at THD. Of course if you take vitamins, then go for it.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I should take you about 1 to 2 hrs per 100 sq/ft. Get a grinder attachment with a top handle and a good dust Vac.

I did it without ever having my knees touch the ground.


Shawn

That is exactly what I was envisioning! Rolling around on my stool. My current floor is nice and smooth but has some sort of sealer or something since water just pools on it.

Any guess on how long it would take to finish 350 sq ft with the HD rental rather than a 7 inch grinder?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

3 Hours, approx.

 

[bdamico]

been several successful threads on this subject -- search for angle or grinder in titles

 

[hh76]

Thanks everyone. I think I will give it a go with a 7 inch grinder with a dust shroud hooked to my shop vac. Any guesstimates on how many hours it will take to do 350 sq ft.

Took me about 2 hrs to do 350 ft. I did just a light grinding on most areas.