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Surface Preparation

Every new floor starts here. We strip tile, glue, old coatings, underlays and linoleum, then scarify or shot blast the slab to the profile your finish needs.

  • check_circle Tile & glue removal
  • check_circle Scarify & shot blasting
  • check_circle Coating-ready profile
Bare concrete slab after old floor glue was ground away
The Floor Under Your Floor

Every finish 6D installs — polished, epoxy, acid stain, cove base or a self-levelling overlay — is only as good as the slab underneath it. Surface preparation is the stage that makes the rest possible: old flooring comes off, the concrete is opened up, and the slab is left clean, sound and profiled for whatever goes on next.

It is also work that stands on its own. If you are pulling out tile, carpet or sheet flooring ahead of another trade, we can take the floor back to bare, level concrete and hand it over ready.

Our surface preparation services include:
  • Tile & Glue Removal

  • Removal of Old Coatings, Underlays & Linoleum

  • Scarifying & Shot Blasting

  • Grinding to a Clean, Level Slab

  • Self-Levelling Underlayment as the Hand-Off to a New Floor

Tile & Glue Removal

Old adhesive is the single most common reason a new floor fails. Carpet glue, tile mastic, thinset and the remains of linoleum all have to come off before anything is applied over them, and grinding them away is slow, dusty work that rewards the right equipment. We remove tile, glue, underlays and old coatings across commercial, industrial and residential floors, then grind the slab back so the surface bonds properly.

Scarifying & Shot Blasting

Once the floor is stripped, the concrete itself needs the right texture. A coating applied to a smooth, sealed slab will lift; the same coating on a correctly profiled slab keys into the concrete and stays there. Scarifying cuts into the surface to take off thicker material and level high spots, while shot blasting leaves an even, uniform profile across large areas — the usual choice before epoxy and other resin systems.

Levelling and the Hand-Off

A stripped slab is not always a flat one. Where the concrete underneath is uneven, damaged or out of tolerance, a self-levelling underlayment goes down over the prepared surface to correct it before the finished floor is installed — see Self-Levelling Concrete for the options, including using the overlay itself as the finished floor.

Surface Preparation Before & After Pictures

Before glue removal

After glue removal

BEFORE – Glue RemovalAFTER – Glue Removal

Tile removal at a commercial drug store

Floor stripped and ground back to bare concrete

Tile Removal – Commercial Drug StoreAfter Glue Removal

Preparation is included in every 6D floor we install, and quoted on its own when another trade is taking the floor from here. Visit our Gallery to see more before and after photos, or contact us to have your floor looked at.

Ready to talk about your floor?

We'll be happy to walk you through all of the possibilities and provide a free estimate for your project.

Contact Us