Jargon Buster

A-

• Anti-slip- Profiling of a floor, or road by mechanical preparation to texture providing anti-slip properties.
• Non-slip / Slip Resistance – Abrading a problematic surface to create purchase or grip. (Making the surface rougher).
• Abrasives- Silica Carbide, Carborundum or Diamond segments bonded onto metal, card or infused into cleaning pads to sand, key and clean surfaces.
• Diamonds / Polishing Pads – The media used between machine and surface to carry out the processing/polishing.
• Atex Vacuum – Vacuum or Filtration units that are fully earth bonded and designed to prevent sparks or shocks for use in hazardous areas where there maybe a risk of explosion.
• Asphalt / Tarmac – Also known as Bitumen is a sticky black viscous liquid or semi solid form of petroleum used primarily for road construction.
• ACM – Asbestos containing material containing more than 1% asbestos present in old adhesives and floor tiles.
• Adhesive – A sticky flexible material that glues / bonds two surfaces together.

B-

• Background Surface – The substrate or definition of the surface to be prepared or treated
• Burnishing- To polish a surface using specialist cleaning pads on a high-speed burnishing machine.
• Buffing / Glazing – Usually a high speed very fine abrasive used to give a final crisp up of the polished finished.
• Brush Finish- Where a concrete surface is finished using a brush which often creates a high level of laitance.
• Beam Flail – Heat treated hardened steel cutters positioned on a planer drum for light abrasion of asphalt and concrete, also removal of grease, dirt, ice deposits.
• Bitumen- Also known as asphalt a sticky petroleum-based material used for road construction.
• Biscuit Screed / Friable / Soft – A substandard, failing screed that has no compressive strength and is disintegrating.
• Black Jack- A term for black sticky adhesives, some containing ACM’s.

C-

• Cutting Blade – A diamond bonded, or sintered blade used for cutting and chasing.
• Chasing / Saw Cutting / Expansion Joint / Movement Joint – The term used for cleaning or creating joints on a horizontal or vertical surface.
• Coating – A layer of paint, epoxy or polyurethane applied to the floor surface.
• Cementitious Screed / Polymer Modified Cementitious Screed / Decorative Cementitious Screed – A screed traditionally made from cement sand and water (more recently with polymers).
• Cleaning – To remove surface contaminants, dirt and restore the finish to its original condition.
• Ceramic Tiles / Porcelain Tiles- Floor tiles made from clay, sand and water kiln dried to form square and rectangular tiles.
• Car Park Decking – Flexible and waterproof materials to protect and enhance car park structures.
• Contaminants – A build-up of materials from working and environmental situations to be removed to restore original surface.
• Crud – A build-up of a substance considered unpleasant because of its dirtiness.
• Ceramic Diamond / Transitional Diamond – Diamond particles bonded in ceramic materials used to grind and polish maintaining low operational temperatures.
• Carpet – A soft woven material floor covering usually over a soft cushioned underlay.

H-

• Handtools – Hand held tools, usually grinders with attachments and dust extraction fitted to prepare small areas or up to edges.
• “H” Filter- High grade or “Hepa” filter required for vacuums and dust extraction for filtering dangerous and contaminated materials such as asbestos.
• Hose – Used to connect machines and tools to dust extraction to ensure clean safe operation.

L-

• Laitance – The weak friable top layer of concrete or screed which is a common cause of floor failure if it is not removed.
• Levelling compound / Latex – A liquid material used to level uneven surfaces. It is poured out and finds its own level before hardening giving a smooth flat surface to lay finished flooring over.
• Latex- A generic name for a levelling compound.
• LVT / Vinyl Tiles- “Luxury Vinyl Tile” a product that looks like real wood or stone but is manmade.
• Longopac- A safe bagging system fitted to vacuums and filtration units to ensure safe containment of dust / contaminants.
• Liners – Manganese protection for the outer body of a Shotblaster to prevent wear of the machine.
• Laminate – A veneer or cover for a floor, e.g. laminate wood floor which covers a sub-floor.

M-

• Millscale – Is the flaky surface of steel which needs to be removed by Shotblasters before applying coatings or surface protection
• Multi-stripper – Machines to remove vinyl, carpets, screeds, adhesives, thermoplastics, resins and screeds.
• Metal bonded diamond – where metal compositions are used to bond diamond segments or particles to discs or blades. A diamond abrasive suspended in a varying mixture of metals determining soft or hard bonded grinding tooling.
• Milling Flail – A cutting flail on a planing drum to cut into and remove thermoplastic and flexible materials. A tungsten tipped accessory within the body of a planer/ scarifying machine which rotates with the flail cutting into the material to be removed with minimal damage to the background surface / substrate. Ideal for removal of thermoplastic lines.
• Mixers – A machine or Handtool used to mix flooring materials, screeds and concrete.
• Mechanical Breaker / Kango – A hand held or trolley mounted tool which with the correct attachments removes tiles vinyl, carpet and screeds.
• “M” Filter- The standard filter fitted to European vacuums to ensure adequate suction and containment of dust and contaminants
• Magnet- An item to remove metal particles from any surface
• Magnetic plate- A plate fitted to a grinder which requires no tooling and relies upon a magnetic attachment of the diamond or PCD accessory
• Mesh discs / Mesh Sanding Disc- A cleaning and texturing product ideally specified for anhydrite screeds and removal of surface laitance
• Moh’s Hardness Pick Set- A test kit to allow for measuring the hardness of a concrete floor, in turn allowing for an educated choice of tooling to start grinding with.
• Matt- Non reflective.
• Multi-Head grinder- Rotary heads within the body of the grinder which rotate in an interchange pattern to provide a uniform consistent coverage. Diamond discs are attached to rotating arms to produce grinding and polishing results. (See Terrco).

S-

• Shotblasting – A process where steel abrasive / shot is propelled at high velocity on to the surface to remove coatings contaminants and clean/ texture the surface to produce the desired results. Small steel balls (shot) are propelled at high velocity within the body of a shotblasting machine onto the background surface / substrate profiling and cleaning. Used to remove laitance, coatings and surface contaminants, must be used with dust extraction.
• Shot/steel Abrasive – Different grades and sizes of steel ball bearings used in shotblasting equipment to clean and profile surfaces, include steel preparation to SA2 ½ standard
• STG / STR / Nilfisc / Swing Machine / Buffer- A heavy duty rotary machine with an infinite range of attachments to prepare, clean and polish surfaces designed to be used with dust extraction.
• Sanding- Removal of seals and contaminants using abrasive discs attached to a rotary cleaning machine- STG 450/400
• Media – The material that is used, within a carrier, to process/polish/grind the surface in question. E.g. Diamond or Silica Carbide.
• Sub-floor- The background surface to be prepared treated and cleaned before applying floor finishes.
• Slip Sheet – Two layers of Polythene sheeting laid on top of each other to form a type of de-coupling sheet for a screed to be laid on allowing for any movement.
• Self leveller / Latex- A cementitious or polymer, flowing/liquid mix which can be applied by hand or pumped to provide a level surface on which to apply flooring systems.
• Sand/ Cement Screed- A traditional mix of sand and cement usually mixed at ratio of one part cement to 3-5 parts sand and the addition of water.
• Scraper – Also known as a “Multi Stripper” where a blade or pick is attached to the front of a walk behind or ride on machine to cut under and lift materials such as floor coverings, screeds, adhesives, asphalt and thermoplastic. Further mechanical preparation is often required after removal.
• Scarifying – Also referred to as planing where a rotating drum fitted with flails within the body of a planer / scarifier machine rotates to remove contaminants and profile the background surface / substrate.
• Star flail- A star shaped mild steel accessory that fits onto a drum contained in the body of a planer/ scarifier used to remove ice, light surface contaminants and crud.
• Single head Grinder- A grinding machine which has a single plate / disc where diamonds are bonded directly onto the plate / disc or segments can be interchanged. Magnetic plates allow for easy change of different diamonds with no tools needed.
• Seals – The reference to brush or rubber seals around the perimeter of a machine that contain dust created by the operation and allow for dust extraction and dust containment when attached to a filtration unit or vacuum.
• Shot grades- The size of the steel ball bearings used in shotblasting machines. These can be mixed and matched for surface profile and cleaning properties of the process (see shot reference guide).
• SFD’S / Button Discs- Means “Surface Finishing Diamonds”, diamonds bonded in resin on pads available for the STG Machine in different grades to clean, prepare and polish surfaces.
• Spacers – Steel washers inserted between flails on a drum to ensure even distribution of flails to create the desired surface profile.
• Snots – usually plaster which has dried in a blob on the floor.
• Sealer / Impregnating Seal / Semi-Topical Seal / Topical Seal – A chemical applied to a finished floor to protect against traffic, wear, staining, degradation.
• Screed / Slab- The background surface or substrate to be prepared, treated or polished.
• Shaver- A planing machine fitted with a drum consisting of diamond cutting discs (which can be set out to different widths) to cut and reduce levels. Ideal for creating line markings cutting into the background surface / substrate where resin can be poured and lines created to be finished flush with the original surface.
• Salt and pepper – A term used to describe a particular finish of polished concrete that resembles salt and pepper being scattered on the surface. (Speckled).
• Surface Dryer- A machine that combines air and gas, producing a flame which is directed through a wand at the front of the machine, on to the wet surface to dry and extract moisture.