Grinding a Concrete Wall to Make It Smooth

If concrete is poured for a wall, it requires formwork on both sides, and in most cases, use is made of wood or steel plates. While steel plates may give a relatively smooth finish, it will still have uneven areas at the joints of the plates. Wooden formwork can also give smooth finish if use is made of marine plywood and will have fewer joints. The use of timber will give the concrete surfaces of the walls, a mirror image of the grains of the wood, and therefore a rough finish.

Rough or uneven walls do not look good and you will need to make the wall smooth before you can use the space that the wall helps to enclose. Sanding a wall can help to smoothen it, but sanding large areas can be cumbersome and difficult, a process that can be made easier by using grinders with the right grinding wheels. It is also possible to apply a thin overlay of concrete or plaster to make the walls smooth, after sanding areas that are particularly bad.

We will talk more about the process of grinding which is the focus of this article. The main purpose of grinding any concrete surface, be it floors or walls, is to remove any contaminants, ridges, unevenness, and any loose material from the surface that is being smoothened. Remove the imperfections and the ridges caused at joints and you can then have a wall that is smooth enough to take on any kind of desired paint or coating that can increase the aesthetics of the wall.

Concrete grinders have rotating heads that level and smooth the concrete surface. These rotating heads are made up of abrasive discs that use diamond or tungsten carbide, hard materials, to remove the unwanted portions of the concrete that can then make the wall surface smooth and acceptable. Diamond grinders provide a surface finish classified as CSP 2, which gives a surface smooth enough to apply further coatings or covering for the wall. These grinders can take off high concrete spots and joints that are uneven to a depth of up to 3mm.

Besides grinders, which are the ideal equipment for smoothing the roughness out of concrete walls, you can also use shot blasting or sandblasting to deal with very rough walls. You can also use scabblers or chisel scrapers, which are more abrasive than grinders and will remove as much as 6mm from the concrete surface.

Check the unevenness in the wall that you want to smoothen before you decide on the best equipment for creating the type of surface you desire on a wall.