CONCRETE SURFACE PREP DENVER · COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL

Concrete Surface Prep in Denver, Colorado

Concrete surface prep work is what All West Surface Prep has done since 1990. We strip, grind, and shot blast concrete floors so the next system bonds and lasts, preparing slabs for coatings, polish, and new flooring across Denver and the Colorado Front Range, and we run one of the largest shot blasting and grinding equipment lineups in the region.

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Concrete surface prep decides whether a floor fails

Most coating and flooring failures trace back to prep rather than product, so this is where the money is won or lost. If the slab still holds old adhesive, curing compound, or a slick troweled surface, whatever goes down next will peel. We remove old coatings, mastic, tile, carpet glue, and thinset, then open the concrete to the right profile so the new system grips. You get a clean, sound, correctly profiled slab, so the manufacturer will actually warranty the finish.

How concrete surface prep actually runs

We start by assessing the slab, then identify what sits on it and what goes on top. Then we match the method to the job. Diamond grinding handles coatings removal, edges, and profiling. Shot blasting handles large open areas and aggressive profiles. Scarifying and scraping cover the rest. We contain dust on every job with HEPA-managed equipment, so we can work in occupied buildings without shutting you down. When we leave, the floor is ready for the installer.

Grinding or shot blasting: which method does your slab need?

Shot blasting suits large open slabs where you need an aggressive profile fast. Diamond grinding suits edges, corners, and smaller floor plans, plus any slab heading for polish. Most commercial projects use both, so blasting covers the field while grinding takes the perimeter and detail work.

The two methods have their own pages because the decision carries real cost and schedule consequences. Read concrete shot blasting for the Blastrac 20D, production logic, and the Mount Rushmore and Commerce City projects. Read concrete grinding for tooling selection, the on-site sequence, and occupied-building work.

What CSP profile does your coating require?

Concrete Surface Profile, or CSP, gives the industry scale for how rough a prepared slab reads. The International Concrete Repair Institute publishes it in Guideline 310.2R, running from CSP 1, which is nearly smooth, through CSP 10, which is heavily scarified, so the number on the data sheet is the target.

Grinding typically lands between CSP 1 and CSP 3, so it suits thinner films. Shot blasting typically lands between CSP 3 and CSP 6. Thin-film coatings, stains, and polish want the lower end, since a deep profile would telegraph through. Thick-build epoxies, urethane mortars, and overlays want the higher end.

This matters more than any preference about method. Coating manufacturers name a minimum CSP in their data sheet. A slab that lands below that spec voids the warranty whether or not the floor fails, and the contractor who prepped it owns the argument. AWSP profiles to the data sheet, then documents what the crew delivered. Reference: International Concrete Repair Institute.

What actually comes off a slab?

Most surface prep calls start with somebody describing a floor they have not fully seen. Older buildings routinely carry three or four systems stacked on top of each other, installed by different contractors across thirty years, none of it documented.

Work AWSP removes on a regular basis includes epoxy and urethane coatings, VCT and sheet vinyl adhesive, carpet glue, thinset and tile mortar, mastic, curing compounds, sealers, thermoplastic striping, and laitance. Each behaves differently. Mastic loads up a conventional diamond segment and needs PCD tooling. Thick epoxy comes off faster under shot. Thinset over a soft slab can pull the substrate with it if the crew is aggressive in the wrong place.

This is the reason the site walk matters more than the bid. A contractor who prices a floor without seeing it is pricing a guess, and the change order lands on you.

What comes after preparation?

Preparation is a means to an end. Most projects continue straight into the finish system with the same crew, which removes the handoff between trades where schedules usually slip.

• Concrete polishing when the slab itself becomes the finished floor
• Epoxy coatings for industrial, warehouse, and food service floors
• Moisture mitigation where slab vapor emission would otherwise fail the coating
• Densifying and sealing for slabs that stay bare
• Floor leveling where elevation problems need underlayment over the existing slab
• Joint filling where traffic is breaking down joint edges

A note that saves confusion on bid day. Leveling here means grinding high spots and applying self-leveling underlayment to a slab that already exists. AWSP does not pour concrete.

How does prep work run in an occupied building?

Most commercial concrete surface prep in Denver happens in buildings that cannot close. A distribution center running two shifts, a hospital wing, a grocery store, a stadium concourse between events. The containment plan makes that possible, and we settle it before mobilization rather than improvising on day one.

Shot blasters recover and recycle steel shot in a closed loop with an integrated vacuum. Grinders run a HEPA vacuum attached at the head. On top of that, crews build poly containment and run negative air where the building requires it. AWSP also carries portable generators, so a space with no power service or a de-energized panel is still workable.

Silica exposure is governed by the OSHA respirable crystalline silica standard for construction, 29 CFR 1926.1153. AWSP supervisors carry OSHA construction safety training, and the dust control methods above are what keep the work compliant rather than merely tidy. Reference: OSHA respirable crystalline silica.

Crew depth is 10 to 15 cross-trained people and mobilization on most projects is 24 to 48 hours, which is what lets AWSP work around your downtime instead of asking you to work around ours.

Who we do concrete surface prep work for

Why hire All West for concrete surface prep

We have prepped floors across Colorado and the region since 1990. We were Colorado’s first Bomanite certified polisher, and we own the grinders and shot blasters the work calls for instead of renting light equipment and hoping. That means we profile a slab correctly the first time, at the scale your project needs, and hand the next trade a floor that is ready to go.

Concrete surface prep FAQ